A Report on the Resources of Iceland and Greenland

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U. S. STATE DEPARTMENT.

A REPORT

ON THE

R E S O U R O E 8

OF

ICELAND AND GREENLAND.

COMPILED BY

BENJAMIN MILLS PEIKCE.

•I,

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRIKTING OFFICE.

1868.

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REPORT.

Washington City, April 24, 1868.

Sir : When you did me the honor last summer to call my attention to the
treaty negotiated by you with Denmark, by which we acquired the important
islands of St. Thomas and St. John, I ventured to suggest to you the propriety
of obtaining from the same power Greenland, and probably Iceland also. You
thought the suggestion worthy of serious consideration, and requested me to
communicate to you in writing my views and the facts on the subject, that they
might be on the files of the department and ready for use whenever the ques-
tion might be considered hereafter by the government. In compliance with that
request this report is made.

The books, maps, and authorities to be obtained here were so scanty that I
applied for aid to Mr. Garlile P. Patterson, a distinguished assistant of the
United States Coast Survey, for assistance, stating^ to him, confidentially, the
V purpose for which the application was made. The result was the very able
^* and exhaustive report (which I handed you a few days since) of Mr. I3enja-
min M. Peirce, indorsed and adopted by Professor Benjamin Peirce, the emi-
nent head of our Coast Survey. Relying mainly on the authentic facts given
\ ifi that report, I will now discuss the subject, beginning with Iceland.
I This large island has an area of 40,000 square miles, bjBing about equal to

JU that of the State of Ohio. It is 130 miles east of Greenland, and 850 mile*
west from Norway. By location, then, it belongs to the western hemisphere, and
is an insular dependency of the North American continent. Only about one-
5> tenth part of its surface (entirely on the coast) is now inhabited. About one-
third part of its area is agricultural, one-third heath, and one-third mountains
and lava. Ij; has " fields beautifully green, mountains clothed in purple heath,
^ and the atmosphere is of astonishing purity." " The lava in time becomes soil
4, and pasture-land.'' Much of the heath can be made pasture-land. About one-
^ third part of the males are farmers, the remainder are mainly occupied in the
- mines and fisheries. The population of Iceland is about 70,000, but in view of
its pasture and arable lands, its valuable mines, its splendid fisheries, and its
unsurpassed hydraulic power, it could, when fully developed, sustain a popula-
tion exceeding 1,000,000. It has been greatly neglected by Denmark. The
^ Icelanders complain of this, and look forward with hope to association with the
t United States. It has numerous lakes, rivers, bays, estuaries, and fiords, with
X~, many good harbors. Four of its rivers equ^l or exceed 100 miles in length, and
several of them, at a distance of 60 miles from the sea, are as large as the Hud-
son river at Poughkeepsie. It is misnamed Iceland, for, owing to the Gulf
Stream, *' its climate is fine and almost temperate." Its mean temperature by
Fahrenheit is 40° ; summer temperature of its capital, 5Q^ ; winter, 29^ 30', or
about that of St. John's, which is 16° of latitude south of Iceland. Its winter
temperature is about that of Denmark. " The months of July and August are
delightfully mild and pleasant ; " " recommended to consumptives." There are
over 100 warm springs in the geysir region ; their temperature 251 to 260.
There are many valuable sulphur springs ; but the sulphur mountains, beds,
' and mines are very rich and extensive, easily worked, and of immense value.
The sulphur is supplied at half the cost of that furnished by the Sicilian mines,

which it is believed will soon be exhausted. The possession of these mines as
a part of our territory is a question of vital magnitude.

Besides these sulphur mines there is in Iceland *' a remarkable mountain of
obsidian." There are also vast beds of lignite of great value. " The grass
lands of Iceland, with their superb fisheries, are their great wealth.*' The grass
is rich and soft, feeding vast flocks of sheep, cattle, and horses, the price of the
latter being but $10 each. Wool, mutton, horses, fish, sulphur, oil, and eider-
down, constitute the principal exports. Iceland moss is found in profusion, and
is very valuable. Potatoes and some other vegetables are raised, but no wheat.
The fisheries include the whale, shark, seal, salmon, trout, cod, herring, had-
dock, &c., &c. The fisheries are most extensive and among the best in the
world. ** The French had in 1860 269 vessels and 7,000 seamen engaged in
the cod fishery of Iceland." Salt abounds also ; the valuable Iceland spar, or
double refracting crystal, magnificent zeolites, and splendid calcedonies.

(/ Iceland, together with Greenland, if ours, would become most valtiable to us
for an independent American line of interocea'nic telegraph. No ocean line by
this route would exceed 660 miles.
■^The religion of Iceland is Lutheran. There is a college at Bessestadhir,
and a more modern gymnasium at Reykjavik. Education is universal ; all can
read and write. Icelandic literature is highly advanced. The Icelanders are
a very handsome race, with frank and manly countenances and superabounding
hospitality. Morab are excellent, crimes almost unknown, and they have no
soldiers or police.

GREENLAND.

This is the largest island in the world. It extends, according to Peter-
mann, (a very high authority,) from longitude 20 west of London to 175 east,
thus passing nearly half round the globe. Its area, thus elongated, would be
about 1,800,000 square miles, or l aryelv more than half the size of all Europe,
but with a far greater shore line. Is ot a hundredth part of this vast region has
been explored, but the geologic structure indicates great mineral wealth. Green-
land extends, according to Petermann, from north latitude 59^ 57' 30^' to within
50 miles of the North pole, with a length of several thousand miles. The open
Polar sea of our American explorers is regarded by Petermann as only a large
bay, north of which the land closes again. This may be, although it would
still leave a smaller Polar sea ; but in view of the discoveries of Wrangel, and
still later of an American captain in the Arctic ocean, north of Behring's straits,
is it not probable that a portion of the land elongated by Petermann, west of our
supposed Polar sea, may not be continuous, but, as suggested by General T. L.
Kane, a congeries of islands, (somewhat resembling the Aleutian group,) still
constituting a part of Greenland, but leaving probable openings between these
islands to the Polar sea and the North pole ? In view, also, of the mild tem-
perature at Behring's straits, and of the fact that Parry ascended to latitude 82^
47' unobstructed by land and with none in view, is not the proper route by these
straits foir our next expedition to the North pole, and should not balloons simi-
lar to those used in military reconnoissances be elevated when necessary to
descry distant objects ?

The shores of Greenland much more than those of any other country are
indented with deep bays, inlets, estuaries, and fiords, some of them possibly
extending from the western to the eastern coast, presenting an immense shore
line, and furnishing most extensive and protected fishing grounds. " These inlets
are bordered by meadow lands, beech and willow, whence the name of Green-
land." The population, neglected by Denmark, lives mainly by hunting, includ-
ing furs and the fisheries.

Greenland has in vast quantities whale, walrus, seal, and shark, cod, ivory-cod,
salmon, salmon-trout, and herring ; foxes, wolf, reindeer, bear, hare, myriads of

birds, inclnding the king duck, eider duck, dorskin, petrel, gull, brent, burgo-
master, goose, killiwoke, lolard, and sea swallow, &c., &c. Good coal is found
on the western coast at various points, extending far north, most cheaply mined,
and close to good harbors. From the best of these northern harbors of Green-
land there is believed to be practicable summer ocean steam navigation 1,500 miles
to Alaska, extending, also, through Behring's straits to China or Japan, or south-
ward to Sitka, Puget sound, the Oregon river, San Francisco, &c.^ &c. This
Greenland and Alaska coal maj possibly render this transit practicable, and
would be of immense value in connection with the fisheries.

The whale fisheries of Greenland, in 1864, were of the value of $400,000.
The climate of south Greenland is one of '' unusual healthfulness, and clear
atmosphere." The limits of summer are from May to September. All the shores
and inlets of Greenland abound with animal life, such as fish, birds, &c. Kane
states the all-important fact of a vast increase of animal life as you approach
the nwst northern arctic waters. The rocks and geology of Greenland, as before
stated, besides the valuable coal discovered, indicate vast mineral wealth. Kryo-
lite, a most important niineral, and of very rapidly increasing use and value, is
found only in Greenland. One of the mines is 80 feet thick. This mineral is
mined in large quantities, its rapid development being due in great part to
American enterprise. It is used in the manufacture of soap, soda, and soda
salts, and yields a residue which has a great value as a fiux in the treatment of
difficult metallic ores. It also makes a fine glass, and has been employed in
the manufacture of aluminium^ and its alloys, a most valuable metal, being very
brilliant, one-third the weight of zinc and one-fourth that of silver, good for
coins, much used in France, one-third the price of silver, valuable for jewelry,
tenacity equal to steel, valuable for watch cases, mirrors, spectacle cases, opera
and field-glass cases, pendulum rods and small weights and balances, instrn-
ments-of precision and where great lightness is required, spoons, forks, dinner
service, cooking apparatus, being unaltered by water, vinegar, salt, and other
organic matter. The mines appear to be inexhaustible, and are of great and
rapidly increasing value. Geologists all look for new and immense mineral
developments in Greenland. Kane's book is most valuable. He found *^ fabu-
lous numbers of whales in Whale sound; swarming also with sea animals and
myriads of birds." Hayes describes "the green meadows there as a paradise,
with swarms of whales, walruses, &c., and in adjacent seas." On the extreme
north coast the north winter winds bring mild weather, because they come, as
believed, from what the Russians call Polynya, rieferring, in some way, to a
Polar sea. Wrangel observed that the northwest winds, as well as some of the
northeast, brought with them a thick, moist fog, so that the clothes and tents
were wet through.

These are the main facts as to Greenland and Iceland, taken chiefly from
Mr. Peirce's great report, which I consider as a most valuable contribution to
science. — ^

I have heretofore expressed the opinion that we should purchase Iceland and j
Greenland, but especially the latter. The reasons are political and commercial.^

The proof has heretofore been submitted by me, that the government, recently
partially established in British America, called the Dominion of Canada, was
gotten up in England in a spirit of bitter hostility to the United States. It then
was, and still is, intended to embrace all British America, extending from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, with a railroad from Halifax to Puget sound, and an
area exceeding that of the United States prior to the purchase of Alaska. By
this great purchase, we have flanked British America on the Arctic and Pacific,
cutting her off entirely from the latter ocean from north latitude 54° 40' to 72°,
leaving the new dominion but 5° 40' on the Pacific, pressed between Alaska on
the north and California, Oregon, and Washington Territory on the south, with
even British Columbia now being rapidly Americanized. Now, the acquisition

of Greenland will flank British America for thoasaads of miles on the north and
west, and greatly increase her indacements, peacefully and cheerfully, to become
a part of the American Union.

The shore line of Iceland, measuring round its whole coast and islets, bays,
riyers, and fiords, up to the head of tide-water, and back to the sea, is nearly
half that of our whole coast when our Constitution was framed. Hence its

^i mmense and valuable fisheries, j "

And now as to Greenland, l^he same glacial action which has cut up Iceland
into so many inlets and fiords has, so far as explanations have been made, pro-
duced similar results, on a much larger scale, in Greenland, thus probably render-
ing its shore-line nearly equal to that of all the United States before the purchase
of Alaska. Hence, Greenland has immense fisheries, most of which are unde-
veloped. But all our explorers attest the important fact that, just as you pro-
ceed north in the Arctic towards the pole, the profusion of animal life, including
birds and fishes, is tponderfuUy increased. Now, the nation with such vast
fisheries must not only have the largest commercial marine, but the best and
greatest number of seamen, and, as a consequence, enabled promptly* when
required by any emergency, to put in operation the largest and most efiective
navy. Such vast fisheries and extensive coasts and numerous harbors, especially

/with abundant good coal there, must greatly antedate the period when the United

\ States will command the commerce of the world.

^ But there are other most important considerations connected with extended
coasts and ereat fisheries. The fisheries are capable of furnishing more and
cheaper food than the land. The reasons are —

1. The ocean surface is nearly four times that of the land ; the area being
145,000,000 square miles of ocean surface to 52,000,000 of land.

2. The ocean everywhere produces fish, from the equator to the pole, the pro-
fusion of submarine animals increasing as you go north, up to a point but 433
miles from the pole, and believed to extend there; whereas, in consequence of
mountains, deserts, and the temperature of the surface of the earth in very high
latitudes, less than half its surface can be cultivated so as to produce food iu
any appreciable quantities.

3. The temperature of the ocean, in high latitudes, being much warmer than
that of the land surface, there is increased profusion of submarine animal life,
especially in the Arctic and Atlantic seas, where, on account of extreme cold,
the land surface produces no food. In warm latitudes the deep-sea temperature
diminishes with the depth, until a certain point, below which it maintains an
equable temperature of 40° Fahrenheit. The temperature of the ocean in lati-
tude 70° (many degrees warmer 'than the land surface) in the same at all depths.
There are wonderful provisions for the multiplication of animal life in the ocea&w
and it moderates both heat and cold. These are additional reasons in favor oi\
the existence of a Polar sea, filled with a far greater profusion of submarine )
animal life than any other seas, and, as a consequence, possessing far the bes^
fisheries. Indeed, as fish progress northward, on account of the better ocean
temperature there, as also because the marine food there is much more abundant,
there can be little doubt that the open Polar sea will furnish fisheries of incred-
ible value,

4. The ocean produces food in all latitudes for the support of animal sub-
marine life. These are squid, (the principal food of the whale,) also abundance
of nutritious sea-grasses, &c., upon which the fish feed. Besides, as the earth •
is more and more cultivated, and farms, as well as towns and cities, drained by
creeks and rivers to the seas, the submarine food is correspondingly augmented.
Even in mid-ocean the phosphorescence observed there is produced by the pres-
ence in the water of myriads of living animals.

5. Whilst the earth produces food by ploughing its surface only a few inches
4eep, the ocean supplies myriads of fish, tier upon tier, thousands of fathoms

deep. Thna, the registered take of herrings in the Scotch fisheries, in 1861, was
nine hundred millions, whilst that of Norway, in the latitude of Iceland and
Greenland, was far greater.

Perhaps, however, the main reason why the ocean produces so much more food
for man than the land is, that whilst land animals only give birth to one or two
of their young at a time, some fish produce millions of ova^ to be matured into
life. Thus, a female cod has been found to contain 3,400,000 ova; and other
fish ova varying from several millions to 36,000. Hence the vast success attend-
ing the increased production of fish by transfer, by sowing the spawn, and other
methods known to ichthyology.

This is a science of great importance, just in its infancy, and gives augmented
value to the possession, by any nation, of extensive coasts and great fisheries.
Indeed, should a largely increased density of the population of the earth aug-
ment greatly the difficulty of supplying sufficient food for man, we must look
mainly to the fisheries and improve ichthyological science to prevent starva-
tion.

Besides vegetable food for fish, the ocean produces salt, magnesia, lime, pot-
ash, iodine, bromide, &c., &;c. Indeed, it is quite certain that the ocean, with
equal capital and labor, can produce much greater riches than the land, and that
the rado is constantly increasing in favor of the ocean. Th6 ocean is emphati-
cally the poor man's home, with no monopoly or individual ownership.

The same philosophic reasons, growing out of the far warmer temperature of
the Arctic ocean, as compared with the land, which indicate a Polar sea at the
north, would lead to the conclusion that a similar Polar sea exists at. the South
pole, and that In the Northern and Polar seas will be found far the greatest
fisheries of the globe, and exhaustless reservoirs of food for man.

' The account of the Coast Survey for the invaluable information procured by
them, is, I think, just and reasonable.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

R. J. WALKER.

Hon. William H. Sbward,

Secretary of State.

Coast Survey Oppicb,

Wa^Mngton, December 16, 1867.

Sir : After a very careful examination of ihis report of Mr. Benjamin M.
Peirce, I find it so exhaustive and so well and concisely elaborated, that it does
not appear to me that I can improve it. I therefore adopt it as my own, and
respectfully address it to you.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

BENJAMIN PEIRCE,
Superintendent United States Coast Survey.
Hon. William H. Seward,

Secretary of State.

Cambridge, December 14, 1867.

Sir : I have the honor to submit to you the result of the labors which yon
instructed me to undertake, during the latter part of August of this year. I
understood you to desire as fiill a description as was possible of the condition
and resources of Greenland and Iceland. This I have done by the kindness of
Mr. Sibley, librarian of Harvard University, and Mr. Winsor, of the Boston

Public Library, who a£fbrded me tbe use of all the valuable works bearing upon
the subject which were under their care. Where these libraries have failed me,
I have been enabled to consult the maps of Iceland in the hjdrographic office
of the Naval Department. I am also indebted to Mr. Schroder, of the Astor
Library, for access to some important statistical publications of the Danish
government; and I have relied in some cases upon the generosity of private
individuals.

The methods adopted for the drawing up of my article were these : First, to
collect together all the more valuable authorities upon the subject. Secondly,
to make a careful abstract of these works. Thirdly, to arrange and compare
these notes, classify them and put them into an intelligible shape. Fourthly,
to consult all the less important authorities, such as dictionary and review
articles, and compare them with my own. Fifthly, t^ develop as far as possible
the special consideration of the more important subjects, by means of the best
authorities on these subjects. Sixthly, to make a careM revision of my work.
Seventhly, to put the results into a written form.

I have endeavored, as far as possible, to state the authorities, with the precise
citations, wherever a fact is given. In some rare cases this rule has not been
followed, either because the fact was one which needed no authority to vouch
for it, or else because it came from an authority which could not be cited. It
is needless to say that in many of these rare cases the statements are a part of
the general result of a long reading of the matter.

I have avoided all expression of opinion except where the opinion seemed a
necessary consequence of the facts.

I have borne in mind the object of the article, that it should treat of the
** condition and resources" of the countries, and have thus avoided the narration
of their histories, except where the two were evidently connected.

I have been as brief as possible, and rather aimed to give a string of bare
facts than to make an interesting article.

In many cases quotation marks would strictly be regular, but as this article
has no pretension to originality, and no other object than information, they have
generally been omitted.

I would say that I have been enabled by my professional education to dis-
cuss with some confidence the sulphur mines of Iceland and the uses of kryolite
in Greenland.

I would suggest to you, sir, as being the most important parts of the article,
those concerning the sulphur, fisheries, agriculture, and future of Iceland, and
those concerning the explorations of Greenland. The article translated from
Petermann is very valuable.

Hoping, sir, that this will meet with your approval, I remain, very respect-
fully, yours,

BEN. M. PEIROE, A. B.,

Mining Engineer.

Professor Benjamin Peirce, LL. D.,

Superintendent United States Coart Survey.

CONTENTS OF THIS REPORT.

I. Iceland.

II. Greenland.

An article translated from Petermann.

N. B. — For a formal list of authorities and of abbreviations, see Appendix.

and hia compaDioos, Dr. HnlUnd and Mr. Bright, of the history, zoology, «nd
< Heiid., Preface. 'See Ueud., Map Bud Emto.

N. B.-For a fortJCi^^

110*^

q{ authorities and of abbreviatlonsi see Appendix.

n

f

ICELAND.

AUTHORITIES.

We have to complain of the meagreness of the data available for the forma-
tion of an opinion upon the present resources and condition of Iceland.
Most of the facts given in this paper have been painfully picked out from
the books of travellers, who fill the bulk of their account with narrative, per-
sonal adventure, and travelling experiences. Facts and statistics, important to
us, come in as incidental observations generally, and need to be disentangled
from a mass of useless matter. This remark applies especially to the books of
later travellers — precisely those which would be likely to contain the most valu-
able, because the most recent observations. We find ourselves forced to rely,
in many matters, on the accounts of earlier tourists, who tell us of the Iceland
of long ago. Sir George Steuart Mackenzie's book, for instance, is admirably
arranged and carefully compiled, but, having been written fifty years ago, it can-
not have so much weight as a more recent one of the same kind would have had.
The missionary, Ebeneze r Henderson, too, is an invaluable authority, inasmuch
as he seems to be the only^traveller who has described the whole of the island,
east, west, north, and south ; but he also made his journey half a century ago.

Yet it must be borne in mind that Iceland has changed very little within the
last fifty years. Even her population has remained nearly stationary, and we
may suppose that the condition and resources as tabulated for us in 1804 are
much the same in 1867. It is quite safe on this ground, we believe, to place
the intelligent and detailed accounts of Mackenzie, Henderson, and Dillon on the
same footing as the modern authorities, Forbes, Miles; the Oxonian, and Dufierin.
On the whole, too, the accounts generally agree whenever the same matters are
treated by two authors ; we find the modern travellers repeating the old stories
of Henderson and Mackenzie.

Older writers, — Almost all the Icelandic tourists have confined their travels to
the western parts, near the capital, Reykjavik, penetrating into the interior only far
enough to scale Mount Hekla, and see the far-famed Geysirs. Someof them went
to the northern coasts, as the " Oxonian " did, and visited some of the villages and
fishing stations in the remote regions of the island. Ebenezer Henderson, with
the perseverance and pluck that everywhere characterize the missionary, visited
the whole of the inhabited part of the country, and it is to him that we must
always refer when we have to speak of the southern and eastern coasts. He
made his visit during the 3'ears 1814 and 1815, with the professed purpose
" exclusively to investigate the wants of its inhabitants with respect to the Holy
Scriptures;"^ but, in writing his book, he does not forget to eulighten us on
other matters, on the topography of the island, and the common occupations of
its inhabitants. He made three journeys in the country, always taking Rey-
kjavik as his starting point. In his first journey he cut across the desolate
interior, steering northward to the Eyjafj(jrdhr, whence he visited the north and
east districts, and afterwards the southern coast settlements. His second journey
covered the northwestern districts, and his third was in part a repetition of his
first, though by no means so extensive.^

Mackenzie went to Iceland in 1810, with the principal object of scientific
research, himself taking the charge of the geological and mineralogical survey,
and his companions, Dr. Holland and Mr. Bright, of the history, zoology, and

' Hend., Preface. ^See Heud., Map and Errata.

8

botany.^ All these matters have been well treated, and, in connection with
many statistical tables, have given the work a high standing as an authority on
Iceland.

The only other early accounts which have been found useful, are those of
Drs. Yon Troil and Hooker. Von Troil accompanied Sir Joseph Banks in his
voyage to Iceland in 1772, and his letters contain a large amount of information,
very well digested and arranged. Hooker's tour was made in the summer of
1809, and his book, in two large volumes octavo, is one of the standard authori-
ties upon the subject.

DiUon. — The Hon. Arthur Dillon's little book on Iceland and Lapland, the
first volume of which relates entirely to the former country, was written after a
stay at Reykjavik during the winter of 1834. It is a good book so far as it
goes, but his travels into the interior were not extensive. His observations on
the rigor of the Icelandic winter, and his intelligent remarks on agriculture and
the fisheries, bave a certain interest.

Gaimard, — In the year 1835, the French government having to fit out an
expedition in search of a lost ship of war, it Was thought to be consonant to the
dignity of a great nation, especially of one which claimed to be in the van of
civilization, to give to the voyage the character of a scientific exploration.
Another expedition of the same character was made in the next year, and the
result of both is the magnificent series of eight works published under the
direction of M. Paul Gaimard. Several of these volumes treat of subjects
upon which it would not be proper to enter with any detail in the present
report ; as the history, the literature, the fauna and flora, the magnetic forces, &c.
Of the others we have endeavored to make a good use. Another result of the
same great expedition, are the interesting ** Lettres " of M. X. Marmier. They
contain, however, but little which relates to the present inquiries.

SartoritLs von Waltershausen, — An excellent series of sketches of the physical
geography and geology of Iceland are given by Sartorius von Waltershausen,
who visited the island in the year 1846, and published a series of papers on the
subject, in successive following years, in the Gottinger Studien.

Ida Pfeiffer, — Bayard Taylor, in his Gyclopsedia of Modern Travel,^ describes
Ida Pfeiffer's visit to Iceland in 1854. She tells us, at least through Taylor, of
nothing which other writers do not describe more fully ; and were she to g^ve us
anything new, we should hardly know how to receive the testimony from a wit-
ness of whom another authority says : ^ " Where she does not knowingly tell
direct falsehoods, the guesses she makes about those regions that she does not
visit — while stating that she does — show her to be bad at guess-work."

We have no account of the country again till Pliny Miles, an American, goes
there, in 1852, on a pleasure tour. His testimony seems generally trustworthy,
but he attempts little more than an entertaining narrative of his adventures.

We have not mentioned Bunsen's visit with Des Cloiseaux, in 1846,* because
we have been unable to procure a connected account of their expedition. The
scientific results, which were the chief object of these distinguished savants, are,
however, well appreciated by the whole learned world. It does not form a part
of our present plan to present these results, though we shall speak incidentally
of certain observations on the volcanoes and springs.

Recent travellers. — We now come to authorities, whose testimony is more
recent than any others, and therefore worthy of more immediate attention.
Lord Du£^rin visited Iceland in 1856, and published a most entertaining, per-
haps a little extravagant,^ story of his experiences. Gharles S. Forbes, of the
British navy, was in Iceland a few years after, and gives us, in his book, some
valuable details in regard to the resources and future prospects of the country.

1 Mck., Preface. 3 Miles, p. 161. '^SeeOx., p. 55.

a P. 134. '*Som.,p.163.

/

\

Messrs. Preyer and Zirkel have published an account of an extensire journey
throi^h the island, made in the summer of 1860. We have drawn many facts
from their accurate and interesting book. The Reverend F. Metcalf (" the Oxo-
nian '') gives us his notes on his journey of 1866, which also have some interest.
Besides these, there are hardly any authorities bearing directly on our subject,
unless it be E. T. Holland and the expedition of Prince Napoleon. The latter
&pent only a very short time in the country, and the observations made were, we
believe, entirely scientific. E. T. Holland's account we have carefully read.
He is a member of the well known Alpine Club, and made a thorough tour of
Iceland in the summer of 1861, only a small part of which, unhappily, has
been described in a sketch given in the first volume of the second series of
" Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers." His narrative is a mere story of personal adven-
ture. Murray's Guide Book to Iceland is only a repetition of what he found
in Henderson, Lord Dufierin, &c.^

Other authorities, — Besides books thus intimately connected with the subject »
we have found many others that gave us stray facts, detached data, and sta-
tistics. We have accepted with the utmost confidence the carefully prepared
articles on Iceland in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th edition, vol. xii.,^ Lippin-
oott's Gazetteer, and Chambers's Cyclopa&dia. The trade accounts of the Parlia-
mentary Beports of Great Britain gave us some valuable data by which to
appreciate the position of commerce between the island and England. Then
there are the geographies, especially Hersehel's and Mrs. Somerville's. The
Annals of Petermann and the Beports of the Boyal Geographical Society have
been consulted.

Maps. — As for maps, besides those of Mackenzie, Henderson, the Oxonian,
and others, we have examined the magnificent four-sheet map of Olsen and the
maps in Berghaus's and Kiepert's Atlases. Ols en's map> published in 1844, is
based on a survey conducted, about the beginning of the present century, by
the Danish government. The actual construction and publication of the map
is, however, due to the Literary Society^ at Reykjavik, and is a noble monu-
ment of the patriotism and scientific thoroughness of Iceland. There hardly
exists so minute a delineation of any other country.* The Oxonian's map,
which purports to be reduced from Olsen, is not to be relied on in its details.

OBOGRAPHY.

Iceland (Icelandic: Island; Danish and German: Island; French: Islande,)
is situated 130 miles from the southeast coast of Greenland, about 850 miles
west of Norway,* and 600 miles northwest of Scotland.^ It thus seems to be
rather American in its connections than European, especially as we may add that
its most important and most populous coa-'t is the western. Its extreme lati-
tudes are 63° 24' and 66"^ 33' north, and its extreme longitudes 13° 33' and
24° 36' west.* It is one- fifth larger than Ireland,'' ® ^ its area being somewhere from
38,000 to 40,000 square miles.* ^ « ^ ^^ Its length is 313 English statute miles. Its

I We could not procure the '* Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas," by S. Baring Gould;
3863. It is probably a good authority. For lists of works on Iceland see Pinkerton^s
Voyages. 4to. Philadelphia. 1810. Vol. 1, p. 624. Thaarup*s Statistik udsigt over den
danske Stat. 1825. Page 644. Marmier's Lettres sur I'lslande, p. 31. G. Med., p. 203.

3 The authorities cited in the Encyc. Brit, are Von Troil, (1772,) Mackenzie, (1810,)
Henderson, (1814-45,) Barrow, (1834,) and Chambws, (1856.)

3G. Litt., p. 268; P. and Z., p 47.

< Duff., pp. 110, 111.

^ From Olsen's chart the longitude of Copenhagen being taken as 347^ 25', on the author-
ity of the American Ephemeris.

« Forbes, pp. 2, 22 ; Bowen, p. 160.

'' Yet see Encyc, p. 197 ; but conf. p. 503.

« Duff., p. 140.

9 Lipp. pp. 8«8, 910.

*o Murray, p. 90.

10

breadth is 192 miles.^ It suffices, however, for oar present purpose, to know that
the island is larger than Ireland, and nearly as large as the State of New York.

Oeneral (upect. — Of this 38,000 square miles only ahout one-eighth' or one-
, tenth ^ is inhabited, this almost entirely upon the coasts.'^ The remaining
3^,000 square miles consist of ice mountains, (jiikulUJ desolate valleys, and lava
tracts.' From Ol sen's map^ we learn that one-third is agricultural or green»
one-third is covered with heath, and the remaining third consists of snow moun-
tains, sandy deserts, and lava.^

At first sight Iceland is a country totally devoid of interest from a material
point of view. A passing glance at the general aspect is deceptive, and one who
merely examines the quotations which occur in the pages immediately following
may well wonder what there is to recommend a further examination ; it is ouly
after a thorough consideration of the details that he can find in the seeming
desolation the sure promise, if not the existence, of a rich prosperity. But let
us see what Iceland is at first glance.

Henderson says,"^ " the general aspect of the country is the most rugged and
dreary imaginable." Tracts of lava traverse, the country iu every direction, but
it is in the interior especially that these immense deserts abound. Here,
says the same author,^ one ''may travel 200 miles without perceiving the
smallest symptom of animated being of any description whatever ; and even in
traversing the inhabited parts he still finds himself more surrounded by nature
than by human society, owing to the distance firom one farm-house to another."
Forbes's "General Glance" is still more gloomy. He gives us a graphic
description of Iceland's dreariness thus '?

Its interior, as a whole, is one vast tract of lava, desert, and ice-mountains— jokalls, as
they are termed ; these occupy one-tenth part of the island, and never have been, and never
can be traversed. Two tracts across this desert serve for communication between north and
south, but not a blade of s^rass or shrub exists in that deathlike solitude ; lava, lava, lava,
is the eternal vista. The habitable coasts consist for the most part of marshy districts ; there
the Icelander builds his house, and collects the rank gprass for his sheep and cattle ; and on the
banks of the numerous rivers, which from jokull and lake pour into every fiord, more favored

Ches are found, sometimes stretchin? a few miles into the interior, the whole affording a
subsistence for the scanty population.

Grain will not ripen in their transient and uncertain summer, and must all be brought from
Europe ; even their grass crop is often destroyed by the polar ice, which in some years imbelts
the island, especially its northern and western coasts, and occasions such incessant rain that
it is impossible to dry the hay. When this happens famine follows, for on their cows and
ewes they principally depend for their sustenance during the long Arctic winter — dried cod*8
heads being their only reserve. The bodies of the fish tney are obliged to barter in exchange
for European commodities, bread among the number, of which the masses (and that only in
the parts adjacent to the trading stations) are able to afford more than one meal a week.

Paradoxical as it may seem, there are plenty of forests but no trees, for the natives dignifv
the vast tracts of stunted birch bushes, winch are found in some parts, with that title, though
they seldom average above six feet in height, never more than nine, and are useless but for
fuel. The western and southern coasts are, however, plentifully strewed with drift-timber,
swept up by the Gulf Stream, which, striking the southwest comer of the island, diverges
right and left along its shores, and materially affects the climate, ^° the usual winter in the
southern districts not being more severe than in Denmark.

Miles says ^^ that the first things which strike the spectator on seeing Iceland
are the total absence of trees, the beautiful green of the fields, the mountains
clothed in purple heath, and the astonishing purity of the atmosphere.

An Icelandic priest told the Oxonian ^^ he would find in the country "nothing
but bogs, rocks, precipices ; precipices, rocks, bogs ; ice, snow, lava ; lava, snow,
ice ; rivers and torrents ; torrents and rivers."

^ These distances are calculated from ^ Hend., p. 1.

(5lsen*s chart. ® Hend., preface, p. ix.

8 Duff., p. 140. a Forbes, pp. 24, 25, 26.

3 Forbes, pp. 23, 24. . ^^ See, too, on this point, Petermann*s Mit-

* Dill., p. 97. theilungen for 1865, p. 146.

* See above, p. 9. " Miles, p. 50.
6 Miles, p. 212. i« Ox., p. 56.

11

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

Such, indeed, is the vast interior. Two desolate table-lands stretch from
northeast to southwest, broken by craggy jokulls, and separated by a barren
valley which reaches from sea to sea, and a hundred miles in width. All this
is covered with crumbling lava, which renders it very difficult to cross even in
the lines of travel. The horses* feet are hurt by the uneven, jagged road.*

The most extensive region of jokulls is in the southeastern districts. An
enormous ice-mountain range occupies 3,000 or 4,000 square roiles.^ It is a
vast glacier similar in its aspect and phenomena to other glaciers.

In brief, we learn from all accounts that, taken as a whole, few countries pre-
sent a less inviting aspect than Iceland. On the coasts alone do we find the
indications of material prosperity — green lands and a source of wealth in the
sea.

Volcanoes. -^Bnt even here the vaot volcanic action which probably once
created the island^ has sometimes re'^isited it to lay it waste again. The lava,
crumbling into dust and exposed to the weather, becomes soil, grows heath, and
later becomes pasture land, which by a new eruption- may be again devastated.
There are about 30 volcanoes in Iceland,** of which the principal are :^ Oraefa,'''
Skapt4r, Kotlugja, Solheimar, Myrdal, Torfa, EyjaQalla, Amarfell, Eyrik, Ball,
Bldfell, G-eitland, Snsefell, Drdnga, and jGrldma, jokulls or ice mountains ; Krafla,
(pronounced Krabla,) Hraftitinnuhrygg^, Leirhntikr, Bjarn^flag, Hitahdll,
Hrossaborg, Herdhubreidh, Smjorfjall, Trolladyngja, Kerlingatj5ll, Hekla,
Skjaldbreidh, Skardhsheidhi, HenglaQ(5ll, and the range of mountains which
stretch from thence to Gape Beykjanes.

The highest mountain in Iceland is Oraefa jdkull, which is 6,409 feet^ (6,241
Danish feet^) above the sea level. Snaefell is 5,965 feet; Eyja^alla jdkull is

1 Som., p. 161.

2 Hend., p. 47 ; Forbes, p. 71 ; Duff., p. 49.

3 Forbes, p. 281 ; Lipp., p. 888 ; Hend., p. 195.
* Forbes, p. 22.

^ Lipp., p. 888; according to Preyer and Zirkel, there are 27 points at which there have
been eruptions within historic knowledge.

6 Hena., p. 2.

'' Here, and thronghont this report, the Icelandic orthography is followed as closely as pos-
sible. The following notes on the prenanciation of that language may be found useful: a
is pronounced like a in father ^ bat shorter, (German short a;) d, nearly like ou in loud; e,
not joined to another vow^el, is like e in men; k represents the compound sound of ye in the
English word yet; % is bounded like our short i, but, at the end of a word, more obscurely,
like the a in lemma; i is like ee in feel; o is like o in hot; 6 stands between the o in lo
and the o in lore ; u, not followed by r, is sometimes sounded like the French u and some-
times like the English u in under; ur sounds like er in better; H is sounded like our oo ; y
and y are sounded like i and {; a and a are nearly like our long i in find ; au is like oi in
Engfish ; ei and ey approach our long a; d is like the German a; or d in Gcethe, The consonants
are sounded as in English, with the following exceptions : /, in the middle of a word before
f and 7, sounds like the German to, or nearly like the English v; before m, n, /,or dhj like b ;
before s or t, like p; g approaches to our y in sound in three cases, namely, if it is at the end
of a word, if preceded by a vowel and followed by j, and if it is preceded by a vowel and fol-
lowed by r oil; A is silent before /, n, r, j ; hv is pronounced like our qu ; j is pronounced
like our y ; kv is our qu ; II sounds as ddl ; nn as dn; p before 2, or at the end of a word,
has commonly the sound of/; r before « or / has the sound of t ; at the end of a word, after
a consonant, constitutes a syllable^ and is sometimes written ur;' s between vowels or before
j, nearly like English z, (German weak s;) v ia equivalent to the T^erman to, and resembles
English V ; z is variously sounded as ss, gs, and ks ; dh is written in this article for the
Icelandic letter which has the sound of th in thine, and th for that which has the sound of
th in thin. These letters resemble the corresponding characters in Anglo-Saxon. Z is
sounded sometimes as ts, sometimes as ds, and sometimes as dhs. The letters c, 9, and w,
are not used in Icelandic, but ck was formerly sometimes written for kk, and q for hv or kv.
It will be observed that the accent does not denote an emphatic svUable. — (Preyer and Zirkel,
Anhang F, pp. 491-496.)

8 Lipp., p. 888.

^ Oxonian.

12

5,579 feet; Hekla is 5,110 feet. SiQce the year 1000 A. D. there have been
26 eruptions of Mount Hekla,^ and of all the volcanoes no less than 84.^
Miles thus enumerates ^ the eruptions of Hekla :

No. Year. Interval.

1 1004 — years.

2 1029 25 do.

3 1105 76 do.

4 1113 8 do.

5 1157 44 do.

6 1206 49 do.

7 1222 16 do.

8 1294 72 do.

9 1300 6 do.

10 1340 40 do.

11 1374 34 do.

No. Year. IntervaL

13 1436 46 years.

14 1510 74 do.

15 1554 44 do.

16 1583 29 do.

17 1619 36 do.

18 1625 6 do.

19 1636 11 do.

20 1693 57 do.

21 1728 35 do.

22 1754 26 do.

23 1766-'68 12 Jo.

24 l845-'46 77 do.

12 1390 16 do.

But by far the most important and destructive eruption in the history of Ice-
land was the celebrated one of Skaptar jdkull in 1783. This produced a wide-
spread devastation, and was the precursor to famine and disease, which carried
off an enormous percentage of the inhabitants. Eleven thousand people perished
from these combined causes. The narrative of this dreadful occurrence is given
us in all its horrible details by Mackenzie, and almost all writers on Iceland.^
It is not for us here to record anything more than the bare fact. Besides this
eruption, the other most destructive ones occurred in 1294, 1341, 1636, 1693,
and 1848.'^ For a description of these we must refer to the narratives of the
different writers. It is enough for our purpose to know that volcanic eruption
has been an important feature in the history of Iceland, and is a determining
cause of much unhappiness and ill-success.

Hot 9pring9. — ^The most remarkable phenomena of Iceland, which have made
the country interesting to science, are the warm springs, of which the Gey sirs are
the most celebrated and the most curious. Besides these latter sources, which are
situated in the southwestern part of the island, not far from Lake Thingvalla,
Henderson mentions ' the Reykir springs, in the district of Olfns, the sulphur
springs of Krisuvik in the south, those of Reykjadd41r in the west— of both of
which we shall have occasion to speak more largely when discussing the mineral
wealth of the island — the springs of Hveravellir, in the interior, and those of
Krafla in the north.

Crreat Geysir. — The Great Geysir, with its attendant springs, is one of the
"lions " of Iceland, which every traveller visits and every writer describes. For
the praise of its beauty and the description of its wonderful eruptions we must send
our readers to the narratives of Forbes and Mackenzie. The latter, a scientific
man, made some valuable observations on the phenomena of eruption, and suggests
a theory of its cause; but it is to the learned Bunsen and Des Gloiseaux that we
owe the most trustworthy and extended facts. According to them,^ the Geysir
takes rise from the bottom of a basin of about 50 feet in diameter. Its depth is
in the neighborhood of 80 feet. There is generally an interval of 20 or 30 hours
betweeen the eruptions, which vary much in intensity and force.'' The obser-
vations on the temperature show that the average temperature of the water is
260^.5 F. before an eruption, and after, 251^.5 F. Bunsen's theory explains
all the phenomena, though it disagrees with the opinion of others, who attribute
the eruptions to the combined action of water, sulphuretted hydrogen, and car-

^ Miles, pp. 153, 154 ; who omits the eruptions of 1597 and 1772, (Pr. and Z., pp. 448, 461.)
3 Enumerated and described bj Preyer and Zirkel, Anhang I>; see also G., II, p. 327;
H., I, p. 107; V. Tr., pp. 628, 686, 691.
3 See, especially, Pr. and Z., p. 462.
< Lipp., p. 888.
» Hand., p. 5.
« Som., p. 163.
7 Forbes, p. 237 ; Lord Duff., p. 127*

13

bonic acid.^ He attributes the violent explosion and expulsion of water to the
loss of the air contained in the water — a known efiPect. Thus the water requires
a higher heat to make it boil, at which moment the production of vapor becomes
so enormous as to cause high pressure and finally eruption.^

Other *pW»^».— There are over a hundred other springs in the Geysir region.^
The Strokkr, about 140 yards distant from the Great Geysir, is the principal of
these. It is a little more than 44 feet in depth ; the diameter of its orifice is eight
feet, which diminishes in descending.* This wonderful spring can be excited to
eruption at ^.Imost any time by throwing in grass sods and choking it till it " goes
off" and flings its water high up into the air, often with great violence.^ The 'sul-
phur springs have great interest, not only to the scientific explorer, but also to the
practical man, for they have deposited about their mouths immense beds of sul-
phur, a source one day or another of great material wealth, and a spur to Ice-
landic industry. The smoky valley of Reykjadd^lr contain numerous columns
of steam, where, as in all similar districts, the inhabitants cook food.^ From a
material stand-point these springs have a possible value as sources of heat, as
supplies of certain salts, in some instances as reservoirs of valuable sulphur, and
in all probability as possessing valuable medicinal qualities.

Mineral waters, — We give, from several sources, some analyses of Iceland's
mineral waters :

Great Geysir water, (Dr. Black,) per 10,000 grains:''

Soda 0.95

Alumina 0.48

Silica 6.40

Muriate of soda 2.46

Drj sulphate of soda 1.46

10.75

Keykir water, per 10,000 grains:''

Soda 0.51

Alumina 0.05

Silica 3.73

Muriate of soda 2.90

Dry sulphate of soda 1.28

8.47

Water of the Great Geysir, sp. gr., 1.001 ; smelling of sulphuretted hydrogen.
Analyzed by Damour ;^ 1,000 parts of water contain :

Sulphate of potassa 0.0180

Sulphate of soda 0.1343

Sulphate of masrnesia - 0.0091

Chloride of sodium 0.2638

Soda 0.1227

SiUca 0.5190

Sulphur 0.0036

Carbonic acid 0.1520

Water of the spring Badstofa, (Reykir.) Analyzed by Damour :®

Sulphate of potassa 0.0229

Sulphate of soda 0.0103

Sulphate of lime 0.0400

Choride of sodium 0.2873

Soda J 0.07il

Silica * 0.2630

Sulphur 0.0061

Carbonic acid undetermined.

^ Forbes, p. 238. ° For description see Duff., pp. 118, 119, and others.

« See Duff., foot-note, p. 127. « Forbes, pp. 122, J23.

3 Miles, p. 100. "f Mck., p. 389, et sqq.

* Som., p. 163. B Annates de Chimie et de Physique. Series 3. Vol.

XIX, p. 470.

14

Water of the spring south of Hvergarden, (Beykir.) Analyzed by Damour.^
Parts of the following contained in 1,000 parts of water :

Chlorine 0.1732

Soda 0.3188

Silica 0.3240

Sulphur 0.0091

Sulphuric acid nndetennined.

Carbonic acid undetermined.

Water of the spring Stooahever, within the Hvergarden. Analyzed by
Damoor;^ 1,000 parts of water contain, in parts, of —

Soda 0.3072

Potassa 0.0150

Silica 0.3160

Sulphur 0.0030

Chlorine undetermined.

Sulphuric acid undetermined.

Caroonic acid undetermined.

Water of the spring of Langarnes, near Reykjavik. Analyzed by Damour '}
1,000 parts contain —

Sulphate of soda 0.0221

Chloride of sodium 0.0547

Soda 0.0508

Silica 0.1350

Sulphur 0.0019

Caroonic aoid undetermined.

Water of a boiling spring, between the northeast coast of Namarf jail and the
lava stream of Burfell. Analyzed by Bunsen ;^ 1,000 parts of water contain —

Sulphate of lime 12712

Sulphate of magnesia 10662

Sulphate of ammonia 07333

Sulphate of alumina 03261

Sulphate of soda 02674

Sulphate of potassa 01363

Silica 04171

Alumina 00537

Sulphurreted hydrogen 00820

Water of the Great Geysir. Analyzed by Sandberger ;^ 1,000 parts contain —

Silica : 5097

Carbonate of soda .1939

Carbonate of ammonia 0083

Sulphate of soda 1070

Sulphate of potassa 0475

Sulphate of magnesia ^ 0042

ChlorWe of sodium : 2521

Sulphide of sodium 0088

Caroonic acid 0557

Water of the Badhastofa spring at Beykir ; by Bickell.^ Grammes in one
litre of water :

Sulphur J 0036

Chlorine 1426

Carbonic acid 1 1019

Sulphuric acid 0464

Silica 2373

Soda 0881

Potassa 0385

Lime 0124

Magnesia 0211

^ Annales de Chimie et de Physique. Series 3. Vol. XIX, p. 470. 3ibid,^p.49.
^AnnalenderChemieundPharmacie. Vol.LXII, p. 1. '^Ibid.,Yol.LXX,p.290.

15

Water of the Geysir (by Bansen) coiltains in 1,000 parts — .

Silica ' .5097

Carbonate of soda 1939

Sulphate of ammonia U083

Sulphate of soda 1070

Potassa 0475

Carbonate of ma^esia 0042

Chloride of sodium 2521

Sulphide of sodium 0088

Carbonic acid 0557

Certain Reykir springs are rich in carbonate of lime, which deposits itself at
the mouths. Many cold springs contain carbonic acid gas; others are continu-
ally agitated by giving off the same.

Rivers. — There are numerous rivers in Iceland, but at present they have no ,
use as channels of communication or as supplies of hydraulic force. In many of
them quantities of fine salmon are caught, salted, and sent abroad. The most im-
portant streams are the Hvita, the Thjdrsd., the Jdkulsa, and the SkjalQandafljdt.
The last two have a course each of about one hundred miles. The two former
are still longer, and are about as large, sixty miles from the sea, as the Hudson
at Poughkeepsie.^ Many of the travellers have observed the waste of water-
power, which might be expended in driving machinery. Dillon, especially,
suggests* the great advantages of hydraulic force offered by the water-falls and
rivers, thus far entirely neglected. He also remarks, in the same connection,
on the scarcity of wind-mills. It is hard to see, however, for what purposes-
machinery could be employed, except, perhaps, for carding, spinning, and
working the wool which forms so large a part of the wealth of the Icelanders.
But, at present, the cheapness of manual labor is great ; the demand fof exten-
sive manufactories is small. It is well, however, to record the fact that vast
hydraulic force is there, ready to be used when demanded.

CLIMATE.

As the knowledge of the climate of a country gives us the key to understand-
ing its fauna, its agriculture, its industry, and the character of its people, we
have examined with great care all the accounts which the various travellers and
observers have given us about that of Iceland. From its extreme northern
position we might expect to find an extreme severity of cold, which would class
it with Greenland and the northeastern parts of British America. But upo^
glancing at the fine map in Berghaus's Atlas, for instance, we find that the iso-
thermal lines about here by no means follow the circles of latitude. The line
which, as far as latitude is concerned, would touch Iceland, swerves far away
from it, and leaves that island in the enjoyment of a fine and almost temperate
climate. Other circumstances besides solar heat come in to determine a coun-
try's climate, and here there is a powerful force to temper its Arctic cold. It
is almost impossible to exaggerate the influence of the great Gulf Stream, which,
sweeping up from the south, brings with it a store of southern warmth to bless
the islanders, and which so materially affects the climate that in the south of
Iceland the winter is not more severe than in Denmark.^ • We give a few
figures taken from several sources, in order to give our ideas a more definite
form. The degrees of temperature are given in the Fahrenheit scale. The
mean temperature of the south is 39^ ; that of the centre is 36^.* This
is probably too low. At Reykjavik (southwest) Lippincott's authority states

^ Li pp., p. 888; see Miles, pp. 118, 119. Thj6r8^ 150 miles long, falls over 3,000 feet in
less than 60 miles, and carries more water to the ocean than the Hudson. (Miles, p. 172.)
«Dill., p. 81.

3 See Petennann*s Mittheilungen for 1865, p. 155; also Forbes, p. 35, and Som., p. 164.
^ Som., p. 164.

16

it 88 iO^t that of Bummer being 56^, and that of winter 29^.30.^ Berg-
hanB^ states the winter cold as 14^, the summer heat as 50^, and maximnm
difference of mean temperature for a month as 27^. He puts the temperature
curve of the warmest month at 50^. During February Dillon saw the mercurj
several times as low as — 10°, but this was during a very severe winter, as he
says.^ Miles assures us that the thermometer is seldom lower than + 1 2<^ or + 1 8^.^
In Appendix B we give a table abridged from Petermann's Mittheilungen, vol.
22, p. 118, which shows a comparison between different places in the Arctic
regions. A thorough examination of this table is very instructive. We only
mention a few facts. The mean temperature of the year at Reykjavik, whose
latitude is about 16^ further north, is less by 1^ than that at St. John's. It is
about the same as that at Iluluk, more than 10^ to the south, and its summer
weather is much warmer than in Iluluk. Reykjavik (latitude 64^ 8') is much
warmer than any place whose temperature is recorded between latitudes 55^ and
850, except St. Petersburg, (latitude 59° 56',) and Sitka, (latitude 57° 3'.)
Eyafj5rdhr is in the north of Iceland ; it is in latitude 66° 30', but it is warmer
than Cumberland House, latitude 53^ 57', and much warmer than any place in
its own latitude. It would be interesting to study the comparison of these
places with others in regard to the differences of climate from month to month,
from extreme to extreme ; but this belongs rather to science than to an essay
like the present one. There is a great variability in the climatic of Iceland.
Violent storms — often accompanied with thunder^ — are frequent. There is
likely to be continued rain in some parts.^ This uncertainty is the result,
in great part, of the polar ice, which sometimes floats from Greenland into
the northern and western fiords, and causes great cold. The north and
south differ very much in the character of their climates. In the north, says
Metcalfe, the winter is much keener, the summer much milder, than in the
south.*^ In the north the prevailing wind is from the north ; snow beginning
at the first of October, lasts till the middle of May.^ The temperature has
been known as low as 35 degrees below the zero point.^ In the south there is
no prevailing wind;'' a north wind there brings clear weather.''' July and
August, in the south, are delightfully mild and pleasant.^ They are the best
months for a visit to the country.^ There is no gradual turning from summer
to winter ; the frost often hardly leaves the ground till the middle of July,^°
and, to speak strictly, there are but tivo seasons.^^

Iceland is by no means a warm country, but we have learnt enough to know
that its inhabited parts do not deserve the harsh name of Iceland, for the climate
is clear and fine, and in summer even warm and pleabant. We have been told
that the climate is much recommended to consumptives and persons suffering
from constitutional weakness ; perhaps the rich fish oil which enters so much
into the Iceland bill of fare may have something to do with this fact, if true.

POPULATION.

The population of Iceland to-day is about 70,000. In 1703 it was 50,444.^^^3^*
Then in 1707 and 1708, 16,000 people died of the small-pox.^' In 1769 there
were 46,2011^^314 inhabitants; in 1783, 47,287i«i3; i^ lygg^ 38,142^^ In 1801
the population was Wi3i4i5i6 47,240; in 1806 it was 46,349^; in 1808, 48,063^*";

1 Lipp., p. 888. « Mck., p. 234. is Mck., p. 281.

3 Berghau8*8 Atlas. » Murray, p. 90. ^* Meddel, vol. n, page 70.

3 Dill., pp. 167, 168. »o Dill., p. 178. ^^ Hend., p. 20.

* Miles, p. 55. " Hend., p. 279. ^^ Dill., p. 294.

^ Som., p. 164. 1* These numbers are copied from Preyer and Zirkel, p. 483,

^ Forbes, p. 25. by whom they were taken from a recent Danish work.

7 Ox., p. 152. For some early estimates see H., vol. I, p. xcvi.

17

in 1835, 56,035;^* in 1840, 57,094 ;i in 1842, 53,000 ;2 in 1845 it was 58.558 ;i
in 1850 it was 59,157,^ ^ ^^^ ^^ 1355 j^ ^^s 64.603.^ In 1857 it was 66,929,^
and in 1858, 67,847.* (See Appendix 0, No. 3.) The average annual rate of
increase from 1703 to 1858 was about one-fifth of one per cent., from 1806 to
1858 it was about three-fourths of one per cent. ; and from 1850 to 1855 it was
about one and a half per cent. ; but the fl actuations are so great as to make
these general computations of little value.*

Our tables (Appendix 0, Nos. 1-4) show how the population is divided. .
We there find that about 52 per cent, of the inhabitants are females ; that
about two-fifths of the population are under 20 years of age, and about two-
fifths between 20 and 50; that about three-fourths of the heads of families,
and of those who provide support, are farmers; and more than four-fifths of
the entire population derive their maintenance from agriculture. In 1801 there
was about one farm to every 10 inhabitants.^ According to Preyer and Zirkel,
15 per cent, of the births are illegitimate, while in England only nine per cent,
are so. Robert gives 1 in 4|- in 1830, and 1 in 6f in 1834. Marriages take
place late in life ; and only one person in four marries.

The Icelandic men are rather tall, have frank, open countenances, fair, often
very florid, complexion, and flaxen hair.^ "^ The women are inclined to corpu-
lency,^ ^ but otherwise resemble the men. They are not cleanly, and from this
cause, as well as from their peculiar food, often suffer from cutaneous diseases.^
They are said to be cheerful,^® so honest that the doors are not locked at night
in their largest town,^^ strangely frank and unsophisticated, lovers of constitu-
tional liberty^* and of literature,^^ pious, contented, with remarkable strength of
intellect and acuteness, brimful of hospitality, and not given to any crimes or
vices except drunkenness.^ Above all, they possess an enthusiastic affection for
their island, which they call " hinn besta land sent solinn skinnar uppa " — the
best land the sun shines on.^*

1 Meddel., vol. ii, p. 70.

2 These numbers are copied from Preyer and Zirkel, p. 483, by whom they were tal^en
from a recent Danish work. For some early estimates, see H., vol. i, p. xcvi.

3 Meddel., vol. iv, p. 3.
* Miles, p. 305.

s Mck., p. 281.
6Hend.,p.20.
"^ Mck., p. 408.

8 Dill., p. 133.

9 Hend., p. 20; Forbes, p. 312; Encyc, p. 147 ; Lipp., p. 883, &c. Hooker relates some
horrible anecdotes bearing upon this point, vol. I, pp. 10, 129.

^° Upon this point Henderson must undoubtedly be re^rarded as the highest authority, on
account of his long stay in the island. He says: *'It has been said that, in general, the
Icelanders are of a sullen and melancholy disposition ; but, after paying the strictest atten-
tion to their appearance and habits, I must pronounce the statement inaccurate, and one
which could only have been made by those who have had little or no intercourse with the
people. On the contrary, 1 have been surprised at the degree of cheerfulness and vivacity
which I have found to prevail among them, and that not unfrequeatly under circumstances
of considerable ext«rnal depression and want," p. 20. It also excited the surprise of M.
Robert to find those affected with elephantiasis (one of the usual symptons of which is, in
other countries, an extreme depression) entirely cheerful. (G. Med., p. 24.) This, however,
he considers as a peculiarity of the Icelandic form of this disease. Yet the same writer
(G., II, p. 22) says that "gaiety seems banished from their hearts," and that *'they are
never heard to laugh." Marmier (Lettres, p. 22) says: ''The Icelanders are grave and
silent. They have, perhaps, less of the sentiment of music and the dance than any other
people. To see them, one would say that they were all under the influence of that austere
nature in the midst of which they are born." On the whole, they seem to combine great
seriousness with great tranquility ; and this is Robert's opinion, at least in reference to the
men. He finds the women have usually a sanguine temperament. (G. Med., p. 149.)
But it is impossible accurately to sum up human nature in a few words.

" G., II, p. 22.

^2 See Hooker's touching account of the revolution of which he was a witness, vol. II, pp. 1-63.

i^H., I, p. 39; G. Med., p. 150; Marmier, Lettres, p. 74, &c.

^'*Heud., p. 20; Ox., p. 8; Forbes, p. 7.

2 I a

b

18

The north conntiy peasants are more intelligent than the people of the same
class in the south ; probably, thinks the " Oxonian/' on accoant of the bracing,
keen weather in the north.^

HISTORY, BBLIOION, AND GOVERNMENT.

Iceland was settled bj Norwegian adventnrers towards the end of the ninth
century.^ In the year 928 it possessed a considerable population,^ in which
y(*ar the whole island was united into one goyemment, republican in character.^
This government preserved its independence for more than three centuries.
About 1260 Iceland was reunited with Norway,' but, a century later, passed,
with Norway itself, under the dominion of the Danes,^ to whom it still belongs.

Religion, — The Scandinavian cultus, and especially "^ the worship of Thor,
was maintained in Iceland during the 10th century. Christianity was first pub-
licly preached there in 981,^ and was adopted by law as the national religion in
the year 1000.* Lutheranism was early introduced into Icelaud,^^ and, from 1551
to the present day, it has been the exclusive creed of the island.^^ There are,
however, according to Henderson, two schools of religious belief,^ and Dillon
states that but one solitary case of dissent has ever occurred.^^

It would add some interest, but, on the whole, little present value to this
paper to follow the history of Iceland, with greater minuteness, before and after
the introduction of Christianity, to discuss the question of the discovery of
America by the Icelanders,^^ and to trace in detail the changes which the gov-
ernment has undergone from the beginning to our own day.^' It is of more
importance to know, as bearing new testimony to the exaggerated conservatism
and strange stagnation of Iceland, that during the present century the govern-
ment has remained, with unchanged laws and institutions, in the hands of Den-
mark, notwithstanding the frequent complaints of injustice and inefficiency. It
was only a few years ago, after years of agitation, that trade, formerly confined
to Denmark, was thrown open to start a more genuine prosperity in the country.^®

Division and government. — Iceland was formerly divided into four parts:
Northland, Southland, Eastland, Westland ; each of which constituted a political
jurisdiction, province, or prefecture, (Dan. amt,y^ But there are now but three
provinces ; those of the north and the east having^been consolidated.^^ Each amt
is subdivided into shires; and each shire^* (Icel. sysla; Dan. syssel) into communes
(kreppar,)^ The shires are variously enumerated by different authorities.*^ There
are about twenty of them. The number of communes is said by Preyer and Zirkel
to be 169.** All these divisions are derived from the ancient republican consti-
tution of Iceland.*^ Each amt is governed by a magistrate (Icel., amtmadhr;
Dan., amtmand.)^ The amtmand who presides over the southern amt takes
precedence, is charged with ecclesiastical authority and with the disposition of

1 Ox., p. 361; MUes, pp. 52, and 294, 295.

3 G. Hist., pp. 43-56; Hend, pp. 8-12.

8 G. Hist., p. 57; Hend., p. 10.

* G. Hist, p. 69; Hend., pp. 12-15.

6 G. Hist., pp. 289, 290; Hend., p. 15.

« G. Hist., p. 302; Hend., p. 15.

T Hend., p. 27.

« G. Hist., p. 101 ; Hend., p. 27.

« G. Hist., p. 116; Hend., p. 30.

^0 G. Hist., p. 317.

" Hend., p.32; Duflf., p. 53; G. Hist.,p.347.

« Hend., p. 34.

» Dill., p. 154.

^^ See Smith's Discovery of America by the
Northmen : London, 1842 ; also Mac-
kenzie, Henderson, Encyc. Brit.

^^ See, in general, G. Hist., by M. Marmier.

^^ Forbes, p. 69, and other authorities ; see
Trade.

" P. and Z., p. 479; G. Hist., p. 69; Hend,,
p. 12.

" P. andZ.,p. 479; G. Hist., p. 373; Hend.,
p. 16.

'^ We use the word ahire^aa the etymologi-
cal equivalent of sysla, or syssel ; but
the average English shire has a hun-
dred times the number of inhabitants
of an Icelandic sjsla,

80 P. and Z., pp. 479, 480; Hend., p. 16.

81 See Appendix C, table No. 1^
M P. and Z., p. 480.

« Hend., p. 12.

8* P. and Z.. p. 480; G. Hist., p. 373;
Hend., p. 16; Mck., p. 289.

19

the revenue, and, in time of war, assumes the title of governor general.^ Hfe is
called (Dan.) sttftamtmandy or (Icel.) stiptamtmadhrt and is commonly a Danish
nobleman, who, after spending five or six years in Iceland, returns to Copenhagen
to solicit a better appointment.^ Each shire has a sheriff, {Icel. y si/slumadhr ;
Dan., gysselmand,) and each commune a mayor, {hreppsmadhr or hreppstjori.y

Besides these officers there is a treasurer or ^steward (Icel., landfogeti ; Dain.,
landfoged,) who receives the taxes from the sysselmdnd and delivers the pro-
ceeds to the stiftamtmand,^ There is also a supreme court, which meets once
a month at Reykjavik, consisting of a chief justice fjustitiariusj and two assist-
ant justices, (obyrgdharmadhTy) with a clerk. Appeal lies from this court to
the supreme court of Copenhagen.^

The atifiamtmandi the two subordinate amtniand, the landfoged^ the three
justices, and the sysaelrmnd, receive their appointments directly from the Danish
Crown ; the district judges and the mayors of communes are appointed by the
stiftamtmand?

At the foundation of the republic the Icelanders established a general court
or parliament, (Althing J which met annually at Thingvellir, and held the
supreme legislative and judicial power of the nation. This venerable assembly
continued to exist till the year 1800, when it was abrogated by the Danish gov-
ernment.'^ The new Althing, which meets at Reykjavik, is only a consulting
body.®

Iceland has one bishop, (hiskup,) who lives at Reykjavik; and it is divided
into provostships and parishes. The provosts (profastr) and priests (prestrj
are subordinated to the provost and priest of the metropolitan church, and these
latter directly to the bishop. All these offices are filled by government appoint-
ments.^

LANGUAGB AND LITERATURE.

The language of Iceland constitutes, with the Norwegian, the Swedish, and
the Danish, the Scandinavian division of the Germanic branch of the Indo-Eu-
ropean family. " The two Eddas, gathered or preserved to us from the 12th
and 13th centuries, are, in virtue of their tone and content, by far the most
primitive works in the whole circle of the G-ermanic literatures, documents of
priceless value for the antiquity of the Germanic race. Their language, also,
though of so much more recent date than the oldest Anglo-Saxon and High
German, is not exceeded by either in respect to the primitiveness of its phonetic
and grammatical form. Nor has it greatly changed during the six or seven
centuries which have elapsed since the compilation of the Eddas. The modern
Icelandic is still, among all the existing Germanic tongues, the one that has pre-
served and possesses the most of that original structure which once belonged to
them all alike."!^

The ancient literature of Iceland, dating from the latter part of the 11th cen-
tury, is of great interest and value, both historic and poetic. Its most flourish-
ing period, which closed at the middle of the 14th century, is marked by the
compositions of the akalds, by the two Eddas, and by the Sagas, The Bible
was translated into Icelandic in the 16th century. In later times Icelanders
have paid acreditable attention to science. There is a literary society, founded

* P. and Z., pp. 480, 481 ; G. Hist. p. 373; Hend., p. 16.

» P. aud Z., p. 482; G. Hist., p. 373; Dill., p 136; Mck., p. 288.
3 P. and Z., p. 480; Hend , p. 16; Mck., p. 290.
< P. and Z., pp. 480, 481; Hend., p. 16.

6 P. and Z., p. 480; Hend., p. 16; G. Hist., p. 375; Mck., p. 292.

• P. and Z., pp. 481, 482; G. Hist., p. 373.

7 Hend., pp. 13, 16; G. Hist, pp. 69, 375; Mck , p. 293.
« Ox., p. 173; P. and Z., p. 51.

« P. and Z., p. 482.

^° W. D. Whitney's Language and the Science of Language, p. 212.

20

in 1816, which has two branches — one at Copenhagen and one at Reykjavik.
Its object is to diffuse a taste for literature and to promote the study of the
ancient Icelandic writings. 'Ihe publication of Oisen's map and of other
valuable works is due to this society.^ Modem Icelandic poetry has little
original value.*

• EDUCATION.

Domestic education is universal ; every poor fisherman can read and write,
and is familiar with the Bible and the Sagas.^ Yet there was no elementary
public school in Iceland till one was recently established at Reykjavik ;^ and till
1846 there was but one college, which was at Bessestadhir, designed principally to
furnish an ecclesiastical education.^ But in that year a gymnasium having a more
general scope was established at Reykjavik.® Some of the young Icelanders
finish their studies at the university of Copenhagen, where they enjoy certain
privileges, and are generally distinguished by their devotion to studyJ The
degree of this university is requisite for appointment to political office under the
Danish government.^

GRIME.

It is in large measure to their wide-spread home education that we must attrib-
ute the fine moral character of the Icelanders. The fact is, crime is almost
unknown ; there is little theft, debauchery, or cruelty, so that the old prison-
bouse, finding no occupants, was turned into a mansion for the governor.'
There are no soldiers and no police.® . There used to be no trial by jury,
but a sort of settlement by referees;^** at present the malefactors are Bent to
Denmark for trial. In the parliamentary reports (Accounts and Papers, volume
47, for 1837-'38, page 255) we find "A statement of the number of persons
arraigned and convicted, sentenced or acquitted, by the civil tribunals of Den-
mark proper, during the period of seven years, ending with 1834, in each of the
provinces under-mentioned.'* For Iceland during these seven years there were
but 292 indictments, of which 216 cases were convictions, 20 cases were in sus-
pense, 32 cases were dismissed, and 56 were acquittals. Of these 216 convic-
tions 79 were for " carnal offences," 86 were larceny, 15 were for transgression
of the sanitary laws, 5 were for murder, and the rest various, such as false evi-
dence, receiving stolen goods, &c. There was no technical robbery, no forgery,
no vagrancy, no arson, and, notwithstanding that it was once a custom, which the
*' Oxonian " says^^ still exists, no exposure of new-born infants. The only com-
mon vice is drunkenness, which, Henderson notwithstanding,^* certainly does
exist among all classes, and is very common.^^

A sort of superstition exists about a tribe of robbers who live in the desert
centre of the island and carry off sheep. The only ground for this belief is the
immense loss of sheep, which, however, could be accounted for in other ways.^*

1 G. Litt., p. 268.

«G. Litt., by M. Marmier; Hend., pp. 22-24, 461-495, 513-563; Mck., pp. 19-34.
The uumber of books published in 1847 and 1848 was 34. (Miles, p. 295.)

3 G. Litt., pp. 263-267 ; Hend., p. 25 ; Porter's Prog. Nation, pp. 689, 690; P. and Z., p. 45.

4 G. M^d., p. 187 ; G. Litt., p. 266.
6 G. Litt., pp. 270-274.

6 G. M6d., p. 187. ■

7 G. M6d., p. 187 ; G. Litt., p. 274 ; Hend., p. 24.

8 G. Litt., p. 275.

»Dufif., pp. 54, 55; Ox, p. 198; Dill., p. 296; Mck., pp. 266, 267; Porter's Prog.
Nation, p. 690 ; G., vol., n, pp. 22-24. •

10 Dill., p. 139.
" Ox., p. 70.
" Hend., p. 355.
" Ox., p. 385 ; Forbes, p. 312.
'^ Ox., J). 100; Forbes, chap. IX.

211

DISEASES.^

The commonest diseases are a certain variety of internal cysts, hysteria, and
rheumatism. The island is entirely exempt from intermittent fevers, chlorosis,
and syphilis, and almost entirely from all scrofulous diseases, (including con-
sumption,) and from inflammation of the lungs. Mania a potu and caries of
the teeth are also almost unknown. These facts are positively established, and
are not explicable in any exact way. There is an equally remarkable liability
to certain diseases, namely, the hydatic disease just mentioned, leprosy, lock-
jaw of infants, a species of insipid pyrosis, and neuralgia of the external part of
the arm. The peculiar cyst disease of Iceland is exceedingly frequent, especi-
ally in the interior. Dr. Thorsteinssen, physician in chief of the island, holds
that one-seventh of all the men are affected by it. The cysts affect especially
the liver and lungs, but none of the softer organs and tissues are exempt. In
severe cases it often proves fatal. The leprosy of Iceland is essentially the
same as the elephantiasis of the Greeks, although it presents some peculiar
features. It is not contagious, and is, no doubt, aggravated, if not superinduced,
by the friction between the skin and the woollen cloths, neither of which receive
all the advantage which they might from the thermal springs of the country.
Leprosy is a disease which disappears as civilization advances. It was once
common throughout northern Europe, but is now losing its hold upon its last
strongholds. Lockjaw of infants is not unknown in any country, but in Ice-
land only is it a common disease. It is most frequent in the Vestmannaeyjar
where no less than 64 per cent, of the children die between the fifth and
twelfth days after birth ! In other parts of Iceland it is the cause of many
deaths. The death rate of children in Iceland is nearly twice that in Copenhagen.
The other diseases peculiar to Iceland are of little importance. Scurvy is fre-
quent. The island supports six physicians.

MONEY AND COINS. — BARTERING.

A cause of dissent among the Icelanders has always been the unjust manner
in which the taxes are levied. Before describing this, we must give an idea of
the money of the country. The circulating medium is Danish silver, without
bank-notes or gold or copper.^ The value of Danish money is thus stated in
I'ound numbers: 1 skilling=0* OJ<Z= $0.005 ; 1 mark=16 skillings=$0 09;
1 Rigsbank dollar=:6 marks=$0 5.5; 2 Rigsbank dollar8=I specie dollar=
$1 10.^ But transactions are more often carried on in butter, fish, and other
articles.* In fact, government taxes are levied in hiindreds of ells of cloth, or
their equivalent. A regular balancing of equivalents has been established thus : ^
one ell of cloth is equal in value to one pound of butter, to one pound of tallow,
to one pound of wool, to two fishes of 216 weight, to one-half pot of train oil;
100 ells of cloth is the same as six milking ewes or as one horse; a wether is
valued at 20 ells of cloth; and a cow at 120 ells.

TAXES.

The chief state tax is the scat^ a tax levied on the value of the farms.' The
amount depends upon the number of hundreds at which a farm is set down in the
old census.^ A hundred is literally a hundred ells of cloth, or its equivalent.
Dillon says''' a hundred is any quantity of land which can support a horse, a cow,
and six sheep. ** Oxonian" judges^ it to be about as much land as will support

^ The facts on this subject have been derived from the admirable treatise published by the
French goyemmeDt, (G. M6d.,) by M. Eugdne Robert, Paris, 1851.
3 Dill., p. 288.

3 MuiTay, p. 90; Ox., p. 398.
* Dill., p. 95.

^ Ox., p. 227 ; this is the latest scale. Another will be found G. Hist., p. 374.
« Ox., p. 227.
7 Dill., p. 96.

22

a cow. Whether the amonnt has changed since Dillon's time, or whether the
Oxonian's idea of the appetite of cattle is more liberal than Dillon's, or whether
the amount is entirely irregular and uncertain, we do not know. It is enough
here that a hundred is an amount of land having reference to its value as pas-
ture. But the tax depends not only on this element, but also on the number of
persons in the household. Thus, if a farm is set down at ten hundred, and has
ten persons in it, the owner pays 20 ells ; but if there are eleven persons in it he
pays nothing. Such a lax is, of course, easily evaded. Priests and govern-
ment officers are exempted from any tax.

PROPERTY.

Land is held either in fee pimple or let by the Grown to tenants on what may
be almost considered perpetual leases.^ No property can be entailed, and if
any one dies intestate, what he leaves is distributed equally among his children ;
whole'shares to sons, half shares to daughters.^

The system of taxation is certainly bad for the governed. It appears to be
equally so for the government. At present Iceland is by no means self-support-
ing.* The whole revenue amounts to about $15,000 ; the expenditure for edu-
cation, salaries of officers, and ecclesiastical establishments, is more than twice
this sum.^

It cannot be snpposed that such a state of aflPairs is necessary. A slight
examination gives the assurance that, were the natural resources of the country
intelligently developed, a new financial prosperity would create itself, and that
the at present pauper Iceland would pay to government a rich revenue in return
for the capital and pains-taking it laid out.

COMPLAINTS.

The Icelanders are, as we have said, attached to their country by an intense
patriotism. Yet we find frequent complaints of the manner in which the Danish
government has maltreated or neglected them. Miles found ' many Icelanders
looking to America with the hope that she would send settlers to their shores
to teach them the productive and practical arts. The " Oxonian " observes ^ a
strong feeling against the mother country, especially among the Northerners,^
whom he thinks the finest of the Icelanders.^ They wish, says he,^ quoting from
an intelligent pastor, who seems to be an Icelander to the backbone, and a hater
of the southern half-Danes, *< a legislative assembly, with a veto reserved to
the king ; not as now a mere consulting and advising body." And then he goes
on to say, " What the people would like would be to be joined to Norway. The
ancient Iceland I am proud of, the modern I almost pity." This is from an
Icelandic ultra-liberal, but the general tone of the more intelligent people every-
where shows that, though they firmly believe their island ''the best the sun
shines upon," it is so, rather from its natural position and climate and from its
undeveloped resources than from what the government and human exertion has
made it. They look forward to a glorious future, when a free and enterprising
government shall aid them with capital and energy to explore their country's
wealth, and give them the honorable position among nations which they ought
to hold.*

PURSUITS OF THB PEOPLE.

At present all the energy of this fine people is devoted to the simplest pur-
suits of domestic life. Their existence is monotonous enough. "Spring is
devoted to fishing, summer to cutting turf and making hay, autumn to building,
manuring, and to slaughtering and curing the sheep. The women wash, card,

1 Duff., pp. 141, 142. 8 Ox., pp. 173, 174. « See also Hooker, vol. Ii., pp. 62, 63.

« Miles, p. 298. -• Ox., p. 361.

23

spin, knit, and weave." ^ Little is cultivated except what is required for the
animals. Other occupations are hunting birds, collecting drift-wood, collecting
Iceland moss, making fishing- tackle, &c., making clothes.* Von TroiP makes
the following statements, some of which are not supported hj other testimony :

The men likewise prepare leather, for which thej nse maid-nrt (spiraea ulmoria) instead
of birch*rind. Some few work in gold and silver, and others are instructed in mechanics,
in which they are tolerable proficients. * * * * Their work is in some measure deter-
mined by their bya-lagy or by-laws of their villa^s, in which the quantity of work they are
bound to perform in a day is prescribed to them. They seldom do so much work now, so
that it is called only meddman's vark, or the work of a man of middling strength. According
to this prescription a man is to mow as much hay in one day as grows on 30 fathoms square
of manured soil, or 40 fathoms square of land not manured, or he is obliged to dig seven
hundred pieces of turf, eight feet long and three broad. If so much snow falls as to reach to
the horses* bellies, which they call quadsnie^ he is to clear away daily the snow for a hundred
shelp. A woman is to rake together as much hay as three men can mow, or weave three
yards of wadmal a day.

The principal article of food is dried cod-fish, which is eaten without being
cooked. Next in importance comes skyr, an imperfectly made cheese, which is
eaten sour half the year. Butter, mostly rancid, is consumed in large quanti-
ties. Bread and vegetables are very little used. Meat is eaten not more than
once a week ; except in the months of September and October, it is not eaten
fresh, but salted and smoked at once. Horse-meat is occasionally used. The
Icelanders mostly eat their food cold, and use salt very little.* SnufiF is taken
largely ; tobacco in other forms less.

DETAILS OF GEOGRAPHY.

It is necessary, now, to enter with more detail into a description of the popu-
lous parts of Iceland to serve as a preface to the discussion of the agricultural,
fishing, and mineral resources of the several districts. We have said that the
coasts alone were the inhabited parts. Of these the western and northern coasts
are the better known and the more populous, since they have better harbors and
better soils than the eastern and southern parts.^ We will now take the map
and follow round the coast line, beginning with the capital and principal port,
Reikiavik.

Reykjavik, — Reykjavik is in latitude 64° 8' 40" north, longitude 21^ 50' west.^
Its population was 1,149 in 1850, and 1,354 in 1855, and, at this rate of
increase, ought to be 2,000 at the present time.'® Here the commerce of
the southern and western coasts centre, and here arrives the steamer from
Copenhagen. The harbor seems to be a good one. The town is built on
a narrow flat between two low hills, having the sea on the northeast and
a small lake on the southwest side.^ It has been suggested that by widening
the stream which connects this lake with the sea, it might be easily converted
into a valuable basin for shipping.^^ The town itself consists of a collection of
wooden houses one story high, built along the lava beach, and flanked at either
end by a suburb of turf huts.^^ There are 16 or 17 merchants* establishments,^
an observatory,^^ a library,® a stone church,^^ and a governor's house in stone,^^
(formerly the house of correction.)

The college, once at Reykjavik, has been removed to Bessestadhir,^* which is to
the southeast of Reykjavik, situated on the edge of the lava region.^* This col-

^—^ - - - LL II ■■II ■■ ■ 11 - r-- • ■

^ Duff., p. 141. » Meddel., vol. iv, p. 3.

« G. Med., p. 143, et sqq. ; Thaarup, p. 378. « G. Hist., p. 267.

3 V. T., p. 658. 9 Mck., p. 79.

* G. Med., p. 140. Von Troil (p. 655, et sqq, ) and others »« Dill., p. 91.

I . mention many other articles of food, but the above " Duff., p. 46.

I are the chief staples. Icelandic dinner-parties are ^* Dill., p. 286.

described by Dufferin and Hooker, (vol. i, p. 67.) ^^ Hend., p. 44.

« MUes, p. 315. »* G. Hist., p. 270.

« Lipp., p. 888. « Mck., p. 168.

y.

24

lege is chiefly ecclesiastical . A gymnasiam of a more general scope was
established, in 1846» at Reykjavik.

GuUbrtngu Sysla — The tongue of land soath of Faxa Fjordhr, Gullbringu
Sysla, may, one of these days, have a vast importance as the reservoir of quan-
tities of sulphur. There are some small towns there, notably : Hafnarfjordhr,
Njardhvlk, Keflavik,and Krlsuvlk, which would, in that case, become important.
The whole coast is more dreary and barren than any other part of the island,^
green patches existing only here and there, and its onl3riuducement for settle-
ment has so far been the vast numbers of fish obtained in the neighboring sea^.^

Hafnarfjordhr consisted, in 1834, of four timbe** dwellings and several wooden
warehouses, together with 40 or 50 little Icelandic cottages.' It is upon a snug
bay, where there is good anchorage, and there is an inner barbor where sloops of
respectable tonnage can be easily brought in for repair.^ It is a great fishing depot,
and during the spring becomes populous with fishermen.^ Indications of the sul-
phur mines of Krlsuvlk are here seen. Forbes speaks of 20 tons of flour of
sulphur stored there ready for sale and exportation.^ Should these mines ever
come 10 anything the sheltered bay of Hafnari^ordhr will have a great value.

Njardhvik is a large fishing village a little to the east of Keflavik. It is
much frequented by the inhabitants of the interior, who come down to the sea
to procure fish. Three hundred boats belong to this place, and the population
of 200 swells to 2,000 during the fishing season. The fish here are esteemed
finer than at any other part of the coast.^

Keflavik is an open roadstead for shipping, much exposed.^ The fishing is
good. Mackenzie says^ the bay is small, but a£Pords good anchorage. On the
extreme point of this lava peninsula*^ is the factory of Kirkjuvogr, the most
southerly harbor on the east coast, and one of the safest harbors in Iceland.^
"The trade," says Henderson,® **is considerable."

On the southern coast of the peninsula is Krisuvik, which is situated near the
sulphur mountains,^ and 30 miles from Reykjavik.^^ It is not a very flourishing
place ; contains a church and but one farm-house.^^ Near by are some good
pasturages, but in general the country is rugged and sulphurous.^' We shall
have occasion to speak of this region when we discuss the mineral resources of
the country.

Thingvalla. — By penetrating somewhat into the interior we come to the cele-
brated Thingvalla, situate 40 miles from Reykjavik. This was once the seat of the
Althing, or General Court,^^ where were enacted many of the romantic episodes in
the history of Iceland." Thingvalla is the name of a lake and valley. Thingvalla
vatn is "a glorious expanse of water," ^* nearly 30 miles in circumference,"" and
more than 10 miles long.^''^ The plain of Thingvalla is a lava tract ^* covered with
birch brush wood in part,^^ and described as more wonderful than the Geysirs '*
The parish here is now small enough, consisting of but 12 families.^^ The lake is
very deep— in some places 100 fathoms,^^ and is the largest sheet of water in
the country.

Rdngdrvalla. — And now we come to some of the most fertile and best watered
parts of the land. First, Laugardalr is described as a "beautiful green," ^**
fertile and extensive, ornamented by two broad lakes and numerous rivers .^^

1 Mck., p. 125; P. and Z., pp. 66-68. ^^ Forbes, p. 105.

2 Dill., pp. 16, 17. " Hend., pp. 58. 59.

3 Forbes, p. 101 : Mck., p. 98 ; Miles, p. »* See the entertaining book, " The Story of

213; Dill., pp. 16, 17. Burnt NjaU'

* Forbes, p. 101. ^« Duff., p. 104.

6 Mck., p. 122. 10 Forbes, pp. 76, 77.

6 Dill., p. 280. " Miles, p. 72.

' Dill., p. 279. 18 Duff., p. 84.

8 Hend., p. 182. . i9 Duff., p. 91.

9 Hend., p. 454. «) Hend., p. 62.

10 Forbes, p. 100. « Forbes, p. 230.

11 Miles, p. 200.

25

Then cornea the fine stretch of country east of Thingvalla, where Skalholt,
formerly considered as the capital of Iceland,^ is situated. All this is a fine
meadow, land watered by the grand stream the Hvlta.* The borders of the
Thorsa is a magnificent grass country,^ and there are numerous fine farms on
the Laxa* All this region forms the largest tract of fine grass in all Iceland,^
It extends in a southerly direction^ to the coast, and along the coast to Hofdha-
brekka is well inhabited J

Eyrarbakki is a small town with a dangerous harbor.^

Vestmannaeyjar, or Westmen islands, — Opposite the mouth of the Markarflj6t
are the Vestmannaeyjar only one of which — Heimaey, or Home island — is
inhabited.^ These islands are most difficult of approach, and in winter all access
is impossible.^ They are the chief seat of the strange lock-jaw of new-born
infants. The trade of these isles is quite large. It consists of fish and feathers.^®
In going north from Reykjavik on the western coast, we come to the Borgar-
i^iirdhr, with the town Innri Hdlmr and others. All this country about the fiord
has a fine reputation for morass pasture land, affording a rich supply of grass.^^
Borgarfjardhar Sysla. — Innri H6Imr is, on the whole, a very pleasant place.
The pastures about it are good, and it is one of the numerous localities for eider
down, about 40 pounds being annually obtained from an island near by.^^

Sncefellsness Sysla* — Further north is Snflefellsness Sysla, with comparatively
a thick population.^^

Olafsvlk, situated on a small but verdant tongue of land, is one of the ports '
here, but it forms only an indi£Perent roadstead.^* Grundarfjordhr is near by, on
a green flat.^' Stykkish6lmr was once a place of considerable traffic before the
war between England and Denmark.^® It has two merchants' establishments.^''^
The fishery is very productive.^^

Breidhi/jdrdhr.—l^ orth. of this peninsula, whose chief natural characteristic is
the lofty Snaefells jokull at its extremity, is Breidhifjordhr, thick with islands,
as many as 150 being crowded into the bay,^^ all of which are utilized for seal-
fishing, sheep- feeding, and for getting eider down.^^

Vatnahjallavegr, — Meanwhile the interior of the west country is barren and
desolate, a lava desert, where no blade of grass exists^ all the way from Hai^k-
adalr to Eyjafjordhr*^ in the north. From Skdlholt to tlie north coast, the easiest
route touches H61ar, which seems to be a lonely oasis beautifully situated ,^^
after having traversed the valley between Hofs and L6ng j5kulls, terminating at
last at Eyjafjordhr.

Northern coast. — The greatest proportion of the Nordland is the property of
the farmers who occupy it. Some of it belongs to the church, and part to the
Crown. The population is confined to the shores of the fiords.^^ Throughout
the whole of this inhabited region the pastures are good, but not so rich as those
of BorgarfjOrdhr and some of the other parts of the south.**

Skagastrond is one of the most considerable places of trade on the northern
coast, but the harbor is not very good. The same may be said of Hofs63, also
a trading town.^

The valley of Eyjafjordhr is well inhabited, being covered with luxuriant ver-
dure, and affording excellent pasturage to the cattle, and especially to the sheep,*^
which form the principal riches of the Iceland peasai^t.^ The high mountains
are covered half way up with grass.^ The cottages are better built than in the
south, and there is a greater air of prosperity and civilization^ than in the
southern towns.

1 Mck., p. 209. » Hend., p. 269. »* Forbes, p. 194. ^i Heud., p. 79.

« Miles, p. 115. 9 Miles, pp. 162, 163; ^° Mck., p. 184. ^ Hend., p. 1 12.

3 Miles, p. 161. Hend. p. 259. ^^ Mck., p. 186. ^ Mck., p. 231.

4 Miles, p. 124. 10 Hend., p. 259. " Hen^., p. 337. «* Mck., p. 233.

6 Mck., p. 235. 11 Mck., p. 155. ^^ Mck., p. 185. ^ Mck., p. 232, 233.

6 Clsen's Map. i« Mck., p. 148. ^^ Qx., p. 276. 26 Hend , p. 70.

7 Hend., p. 258. « jSee table, appendix B. ^ Forbes, p. 144.

26

The harbor of Ejjafjdrdhr is the best on the northern coast.^ Akreyri has
three merchants' houses and 18 or 20 storehouses. The trade is wool, salted
mutton, and other Iceland articles, which are exchanged chiefly for rye.^
Near this place was once a fine forest, of which the stamps are still visible.^
At Hiisavik the fishery is not good, but during the winter many seals are
caught.'* Here there is, or used to be, a sulphur manufactory,^ built as the
appendix to the mines of Krafla. The harbor is one of the most dangerous in
the island, not only on account of the rocks at its entrance, but also from the
quantities of ice which, during certain seasons, drift in from G-reenland.^ The
town is upon a precipice, 100 feet above the sea level, and articles are removed to
and from ships by a crane placed on the brow of the height.^

Northeast desert. — Fljotsdalsheradh — The course from Husavik to the eastern
coast seems to be^ by the way of Rey kjahlidh and Krafla, where are the most
extensive sulphur deposits of the island, "^ and a remarkable mountain of
obsidian.^ Near by is Myvatn, the second largest sheet of water in Ice-
land, remarkable as being fed in part by hot springs.^ It is forty miles
in circumference.^ After having passed this region the traveller finds again
a desolate lava-desert^^ till he reaches the Lagarfljot, excepting the thin strips
of green on the river borders. Mrs. Somerville speaks ^^ of the eastern
coast as being the most favored portion of the island. Lagarfljot is cer-
tainly one of the finest tracts in all Iceland. On both its shores it is closely
inhabited, containing lU parishes, going under the common name of the Herved.^^
The pasturage is uncommonly rich, the meadows extensive ; the mountains
abound in Iceland moss, and the waters swarm with fine fish.^^ North of this
blest region there seem to be but one or two settlements. At VopnafjOrdhr there
is a harbor, but it is inferior to some others in Iceland.^^ South the country
seems to be more invitiag, with some good pastures and facilities for fishing, till
all fertility and settlements are cut off by the doleful and haggard tracts" near
the Ors&fa jokull, the highest peak on the island, and the front of the vast deso*
lation of the interior. Unappavellir is a swampy, sloping coast.^^

RESOURCES.

VEGETABLE PRODUCTION. — FLORA. — FUEL. — DRIFT-WOOD. — LIGNITE.

The vegetable wealth of Iceland is not large. Owing partly to the soil,
partly to the uncertainty of the climate, and also to the inactivity and prejudices
of the natives,^® grain is not produced. Berghaus places the island north of the
northern limit of barley. He says that there are 407 species of non-cry ptog-
amous plants on the island, of which one eighth are leguminous, one-eighteenth
nearly are cruciferous, one-seventeenth are composite, one-ninth are cyperatiae,
and one-eighth are grain-bearing. The Iceland flora is nearly identical, says
Sir John Herschel in his Physical Geography, with that of the Scandinavian
mountains.^*^ That an utter poverty in the breadstuffs has always characterized
the country is by no means evident, since the ancient books and legends speak
of flourishing crops of grain,^^ and all the authorities agree that the fertility of
the soil was once greater than it is now. The grass country certainly was once
more extensive than it is now,^^ and where at the present time only stunted

1 Mck., pp. 222, 233. ^^ Som., p. 164.

8 Hend., p. 92. ^« Hend., p. 173.

3 Hend., p. 1 17. " Hend., p. 167.

* Mck., p. 233. ^* Hend., p. 204.

6 Hend., p. 128. ^^ Hend., p. 207.

6 Course of Henderson. ^^ Mck., p. 281, and others; see further on.

^ Hend., p. 147. " For the flora see P. and Z., p. 352, and H., vol. Il, p. 311 ;

8 Hend., p. 156. • also Mck., p. 409.

9 Ox., p. 135. « Ox., p. 363.

w Hend., p. 164. »» Forbes, p. 281.

27

birches or old tree-stnmps ^ are to be fonnd, forests of timber oDce abounded.*
NoTv-a-days building-wood is absolutely wanting. Birch bushes seldom average
above six feet in height^^ the northern part of Iceland being the extreme northern
limit of this tree.* A tolerablv tall tree excites the remark of the traveller.
Those, fifteen feet high, that Dillon saw,* were monsters. We are told of other
small forests, one of trees averaging twenty feet in the valley of Lagarfljot,® and
a large tract of land in the north called the Birch-thicket, and one of eight-foot
birches near the White river (HvitJlJ) Besides the birch, the willow, the
juniper,^ the alchemilla, and the wild geranium are to be seen. From the latter
the natives used to make a blue dye, called Odin's color.^ This want of
indigenous wood is in a great measure supplied by turf ^ and by the quantities
of floating timber which are thrown upon the coasts,^^ so that many shore places
otherwise of small value sell high on this account.^^

Drift-wood, — ^Besides the Gulf Stream bringing a rich supply to the south,
the current from north Asia throws drifting wood on the northern coasts of Ice-
land.^ These two currents seem to have been ordained to compensate for the
nakedness of the land and to furnish the natives with material for burning and
for house and boat building.

The accumulated drift of the seas during past ages, too, have remained stored
upon the shores, especially .on the northwest peninsula ^ By exposure, by
time, and by pressure, it has become a sort of lignite or surturbrand. Where it
crops out as on the fiords of the northwest, or where it has been mined,^^ it
is seen that it exists in three layers,^ alternating with traps, each bed being
three or four inches thick.^^ It is black and shiny like pitch-coal,^* and contains
fossil flora, an argument to some geologists that it is the result of a regular deposit
similar to that which created the coal of the carboniferous period .^^ ^* It is much
to be regretted that we have no accounts to guide us in judging of the extent
of these beds, nor recorded experiments as to the nature and calorific power of
the combustible. We may be sure, however, that if the natural intelligence of
the natives should be guided in their exploration by the skill of energetic prac-
tical miners, something could be made of these coal-seams. We shall recur
again to this subject in speaking of the mineral wealth of the country.

Grass. — The grass lands of the Icelanders (with their superb fishing grounds)
are their greatest wealth, as they pasture the flocks of sheep and cattle, which
form their chief means of subsistence and their most important article of commerce.
The meadow-lands are not ploughed and seeded down, but get grassed over by
nature.^* There is not a plough or a harrow in the whole country.^* Dillon,
however, speaks ^^ of the grass crop being " sown** in May, going on to say that
it begins to grow in June, and is fit for mowing in August.^''^ At this latter
season the fishermen migrate to the grass to help in mowing and stacking it.^''^
The soil, says Miles,^^ is very fertile indeed, and the meadows look like fine
pastures, where nothing has been for six weeks. The grass is thick and soft,
much like our red-top.^^ White clover grows here very well. Indeed, on the
Lax4 river it is found spontaneously growing with caraway.^ In the valley of
the Laugardalr the Boil is so rich that the ponies wade up to their knees in a
sea of tall grass, which forms the rich, lawn-like meadows.^^ The hay from the
Iceland grass is said to be exceedingly sweet.^^ With proper care, draining, and
so forth, much of the land now covered with heath (nearly half of Iceland)
could be made fertile enough for capital grazing land.^ The Icelanders com-

1 Hend. , p. 117. 9 G. , vol. ii, p. 27. " See Holland , p. 12.

« Hend., p. 6. lo Hend.,p.6; Forbes,p.26. »» Miles, p. 116.

3 Forbes, p. 26. " Hend., p. 379. i9 Forbes, p 330.

< Berghaus's Atlas. i» Forbes, p. 191. so Miles, p. 125.

6 Dill., p. 201. 13 Lipp., p. 888. ^i Forbes, p. 232.

6 Som., p. 164; Hend., p. 173. " Duff., p. 186; Ox., p. 251. 23 Miles, p. 213.

'^ Forbes, p. 144. le Miles, p. 125. « Miles, p. 158, and Dill.,

8 Ox., p. 138. 16 Dill., p. 125. p. 100.

28

plain of the neglect shown by the Danish government in this as in*other matters.^
Some of the more sanguine of the agricaltnrists believe that grain even could
be grown in Iceland,* were the soil, naturally excellent,^ properly prepared by
draining and ploughing.* To be sure the objection is made that the weather
would prevent the ripening;^ to be sure the sorry experiment made a few years
with seed-corn proved an utter failure,* (from one quarter of a barrel of seed-
corn but one-half a barrel was produced ; ) still we must be permitted to ask
obstinately what the legends of grain grown mean,® and to suggest that the
natives seem to be resolved, willy-nilly, that grain shall not grow in Iceland.

Potatoes and turnips, — At any rate there are some parts of Iceland where
potatoes and turnips would grow, especially along the shores, where the soil is
sandy and sea-weeds are abundant.' Indeed, already at Reykjavik, potatoes
grow well, turnips look finely, and beds of lettuce are to be found in all gardensJ
Even in the north, at Akreyri, Henderson tells us of gardens producing pota-
toes and colerope.^ Dillon, on the other hand, calls Miles's potatoes and turnips
mere pigmies,® but acknowledges^® that much might be done were the cost of
beginning disregarded. All that is wanted, says Mackenzie,' is some active and
intelligent person, able to combat the prejudices and stimulate the exertions of
the natives, to give a new impetus to agriculture.

Iceland moss, — The other vegetable products of Iceland of any importance
are the Iceland moss, ("an article of commerce," ^^) and other lichens, especially
the reindeer's food, a kind of moss, which is very abundant ; ^* then there is a
sort of fiall grass,^^ which is used for making gruel, and finally a small blue
berry, the only Icelandic fruit.^* ^'

The effect of the introduction of foreign enterprise and capital upon the agri-
culture of Iceland is appreciated by all writers. The grass would be improved,^*
the pastures increased in size, vegetables would be introduced, and with them
the benefits of an anti-scurvy food upon the general health of the island ; fruits
would perhaps find their way in, and a genuine agricultural progress would be
inaugurated, with unspeakable benefit to the island and its inhabitants.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

The domestic animals of Iceland are sheep, cattle, and horses ;^® goats are
found in the north.^''' The pig in such a country is too expensive to rear."
Dogs and cats are found. ^''^

Sheep. — The number of sheep in Iceland is about ten times the human popu-
lation, 600,000.^^ These immense flocks are the chief support of the people ;
they furnish them with food and raiment, as well as with an industry and
articles of commerce. The Iceland sheep has sometimes four or even six horns ;^®
they are larger than the old Scotch breed.^ The wool is coarse, but is long and
soft, and contains a fibre (tog) which resembles camel's hair.^^ It is woven up
into stockings and mittens by the women, and is exported thus made up, or in a
raw state. The mutton, salted down, is one of the most valuable staples of com-

1 Forbes, p. 160. »« Dill., p. 281. ^

3 Hend., p. 7. " Lipp., p. 888.

3 Dill., p. 109. . ^2 Mck., p. 350.

* Miles, pp. 304, 305. ^^ Dill., p. 82.

6 Mck., p. 281. 1* Miles, pp. 157, 303.

^ Yet pernaps these legends have something '* For an extended description of the plants,

of that tendency of the Icelanders to tint see Mck. and Ox.

everything connected with their land in *^ Miles, p. 55 ; Dill., p. 289.

cotdeur de rose^ which alone will account ^"^ Dill, p. 289.

for a modern poem (H., vol. I, p. 39) i* Lipp., p. 888; in 1845 there were 617,401;

called The Georgics of Iceland. G. M^d., p. 177; Miles, p. 55.

^ Miles, p. 62. ^9 Dill., p. 291.

8 Hend., p. 92. " 3o Mck., p. 278.

» Dill., pp. 82 and 109. " Ox., p. 249.

29

merce. The improvement of the breed, and thus of the quality of the wool, is
a subject often agitated by the writers, adding another to the long list of instances
where the travellers seem struck with the richness of natural resources in the
country, and the neglect of man there to improve and develop them.

Cattle, — ^The cattle of Iceland are generally devoid of horns.^ Perhaps this
is why the official statistics, with a sort of grim humor, number the ** homed
cattle" at 23,713,* while other authorities say there are 40,000 "cattle."^ They
are, says Mackenzie,* very like the largest Highland breed. The cows yield
much milk, many of them 10 or 12 quarts a day, and some more.

Horses, — The census of 1845 gave 34,584 horses.* In the uninhabited parts
many troops of wild horses are to be found, which shift for themselves even in
the severest winters, when they perish in large numbers.^ Miles says there are
in all 60,000 horses,^ and Lippincott counts but 20,000.^ The breed is an
excellent one ; they are a little larger than Shetland ponies, that is, twelve or
thirteen hands high.'' They are stout, strong, hardy, and sagacious ;® they are
sleek and fat, but have long hair and flowing tails.^ They are seldom seen
covered with sweat, and will travel, well laden, 10 or 12 hours a day, without
redt, for several successive days.^® They are remarkable for their scent.^^ They
thrive very well with only a rude sort of keeping, never receive bran or oats, and
in winter eat even sea- weed and fish. The white horses are most esteemed ; the
black least.^^ The best breed of ponies comes from Borgarfjordhr.^* Their value
increases with their age.^^ A horse bringing $150 or $200 in Boston or New
York, sells for $10 in Iceland.® A first-rato riding horse, sure-footed, well-
bred, and handsome, costs $25 and upwards.^* There is quite an extensive
exportation of horses to Scotland and England,^^ and it has been su^^gested ^^
that the same stock, thus sent to improve certain English breeds, might be well
worth adding to American.

Dogs. — The dogs of Iceland resemble the Greenland variety.^® They are
used lor guarding the sheep."

STATISTICS ON SHEEP, CATTLE, AND HORSES.

A few statistics, even if they are repeated in the latter part of this paper and
in the tables of our appendix, having special reference to the wealth of Iceland
in sheep, cattle, and horses, will not be out of place.

Proportion of animals in Iceland in 1804.^^

Cows 15,595

Heifers .^ 1,556

Bulls and oxen r 1,132

Calves 2,042

Cattle, total 20,325

Milch ewes 102,305

Rams and wethers - 49, 527

Lambs : .66,986

Sheep, total 218,818

Namber of horses 26,524

1 Dill., p. 290 ; Mck., pp. 276, 277 ; v. T., p. 663. ^o G. Med., p. 153.

2 Lipp., p. 888; G. Med., p. 177. " Dill., p. 290.

3 Miles, p. 55. 12 Forbes, p. 115 ; Ox., p. 318.
* Mck. , pp. 276, 277. »3 Forbes, p. 83.

fi Forbes, p. 227. " Hand., p. 49; Ox,, p. 48.

6 Lipp., p. 888. 15 Miles, p. 299.

7 Miles, p. 55 ; Mck., p. 340 ; Hend.,p. 49. ^^ Mck., p. 337.

8 Dill., p. 290 ; Hend., p. 49. " Dill., pp. Ill and 291.
^ Miles, p. 129. <8 Mck., see Appendix D.

80

ExporUjrom Iceland in 180G.^

Wool, ipyen spproximatelj 250, 000 pounds

Yaru, in English pounds 9,000 pounds.

Stockings -•- 181,676 pairs.

Mittens 283, 076 pairs.

Lambskins 7,427

Salted sheep skins 32,803

Tallow 200, 000 pounds.

Exported from Iceland to Great Britain alone in IS64 :' horses, 470 ; value,
de2.468. With Denmark, wool, 2,229,504 pounds; value, 66119,748. In
1861-'62-'63-'64 the number of horses imported by Great Britain from Iceland
has heeu, respectively, 444, 856, 345, and 470. During the same years the
exports of wool from Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, &;c., to Great Britain were*
in value, de45,947, <£80,747, 6689,394, d61 19,748.

HUNTING.

The list of wild mammalia in Iceland is not long ^ It includes the polar bear
in small numbers, as visitors rather than as indigenous, being brought from
Greenland on the floating ice,^ the white and blue fozes,^ the reindeer, seals of
four different kinds, numerous sea animals of the porpoise family, and whales.
There is no important hunting, unless it is for seals and whales, which forms
quite an industry in some places. The foxes are troublesome, as committing
great depredations among the sheep.^ The reindeer, too, interfered with the
sheep, so that they were killed off by the farmers till few, if any, remain.^ They
were introduced long ago from Lapland,^ increased wondedully in numbers,
large herds'' being seen from time to time in the interior, but now they are
scarcely ever seen.^ There are no indigenous quadrupeds.^

BIRDS. — EIDER DUCK. — FEATHERS. — GAME.

There are numerous kinds and countless numbers of birds in Iceland. Miles
devotes a large space in his book to their description, (see Miles, pages 218 to
232.) He mentions the cormorant, solan goose, snow-bird, gulls, owls, jer-fal-
con ; and then the game birds, ptarmigans, curlew, plover, and tern.® But by
far the most valuable of all the country's fowls is the eider duck.^® In late
spring^^ these birds make their appearance in BorgarfjOdhr,^* in Faxa^ordhr and
other favorable spots, and build their nests and breed. Vidhey and Engey, north
of Reykjavik, swarm with them,^^ these two islands giving an annual produce
of 300 pounds." There are still more in the myriad islands of the Breidhafjordhr."
The down is taken from the nest with the eggs ; whereupon the duck lines the
nest again, and lays more eggs. This is often repeated twice." Unpurified
down is worth from 23 sk. to 1 Rd. 75 sk. a pound ; purified from 2 Rd. 66 sk.
to 4 Rd. 53 sk." Three nests give a half a pound of down." In some places
the ducks have been frightened away by the cannon of cruisers sent to protect
the fi.shermen.^^ In 1806 there was about 2,000 pounds of eider down exported
from Iceland.^

Besides the down there is quite a trade in feathers. On the Vestmannaeyjar
the people are especially indebted to the puffin for their means of subsist*

^ See Appendix E. * H., vol. 1, p. 52.

8 Parliamentary Reports, 1865 ; Lii, p. 55. ^ Miles, p. 57.

8 Dill., p. 292; Hend., p. 357; Mck., p. 337; lo Lipp , p. 888.

Miles, p. 170. " Dill., p. 257.

* Mck., p. 337 ; Forbes, p. 40. " Forbes, p. 1 18.
6 Hend., p. 357; Forbes, p. 227; Mck., "Dill., p. 264

p. 337. " P. and Z., pp. 53, et $qq. ; H., I, 42, 63;

• Forbes, p. 327. il.,361.

» Dill., p. 85; Lipp.,p. 888 ; Miles, p. 110 ; " Hend., p. 184.
Mck.,p.338; MUes,p.]70; Hend.,p.270.

31

ence. GonDtless myriads of these quaint birds dwell in the rocks of these islets.
Their feathers are exported, while their bodies are used for food, either fresh or
salt, and when plentifal, for fuel.^ Other birds sapply feathers for exportation.
In 1866 upwards of 8,000 pounds of feathers were sent away.*

There seems to be an abandance of game-birds in the island. Pfcarmigans of
two kinds ^ are very abundant,^ and thousands of golden plover are found near
* Thingvallavatn.^ In a five days' excursion Forbes shot GOO head of snipe,
ptarmigan, and plover, near the latter place.^

FISHERIES.

As we have before said, one of the most important industries of the Iceland-
ers is the fishing. Varied and extensive as it is, and depending upon a peculiar
character of people, it has determined more than anything else the modes of
their existence, and is the inspiration of their . national life. The lakes and
rivers abound in salmon and troutj while their bays and fiords swarm with
enormous numbers of cod and haddock, as well as numerous seals and sharks.

Cod,^^The most lucrative and the most important of the fishenes is the cod
fishery, which seems at present to be monopolized by the French government.^
There is no part of the world where cod fishing can be so extensive or so easily
carried on as in Iceland.® Even in the iimer harbors cod are taken,^® and the
island's coast seems in every way cut out for a fishing station.

The fishing season lasts from the first of February to the first of May,^^ dur-
ing which period the inhabitants flock in vast numbers to the coasts aod to the
fishing grounds to pay the labor which the fishermen render them in summer
time in the fields. Small factories and hamlets become populous at this time,^'
and the whole energy and interest of the island is turned to this its character-
istic occupation. It is principally along the western shores that the cod are
fished.^^ Breidhaf jordhr and Faxaf jordhr are favored seas, but the most produc-
tive region is off the southern coast of Giillbringu Sysla from Keflavik to Hafuar-
fjOrdhr.^^ It is a noteworthy fact that this desolate peninsula is in appearance the
most doleful part of Iceland, excepting the jokuU region of the southwest, yet
it really is one of the richest districts of all, containing, as it does, a splendid
wealth of sulphur, and being girded with such magnificent fishing waters We
have said that the French monopolized the cod fishery. This was not always
the case. In the reign of James I, of England, no less than 150 British vessels
were employed in these fisheries.^^ Little by little France, by patient but strenu-
ous effort, established a foothold on, and afterwards a monopoly of, the Iceland cod
fishery, thus securing for herself, as she did in Newfoundland, not only a Bource
of national wealth, but a powerful reserve of experienced seamen.^' This latter
advantage must not be too lightly regarded, for i^is certain that no better school
for sailors could be imagined than the dangerous and adventurous navigation of
the fiords of Iceland. In 1860 there were 269 French vessels, varying from
40 to 80 tons burden, and 7,000 fishermen engaged in cod catching.^ Of these
men the larger part have served their appointed time in men-of-war, and enter
the fishing service to make money, as the bounties are liberal and the fortune
almost always excellent.^ These fisheries are protected by men-of-war,^® which
cruise about, giving the fishing-smacks assistance in men, spars, provisions, or
medical aid.^"^ Forbes says ^"^ that no such powerful reserve of trained seamen
exists, except those engaged in a similar occupation and under similar regula-
tions on the banks of Newfoundland ; and Forbes is a commander in the royal

» Forbes, p. 31 ; DiU., p. 293. ^ Miles, p. 54. « Mck., p. 122.

« See Appendix E. » Forbes, p. 207. i3 Mck., p. 344.

3 Ox., p. 83. 9 H., vol. I., p. 87. " Dill., p. 173.

* Dill., p. 85. 10 Mck., p. 286. i« Forbes, p. 217.

^ Forbes, p. 75. " Hend., p. 279; Mck., p. 344; *« Forbes, p. 36.

Forbes, p. 99. Miles, p. 54; Dufif., p. 140. ^^ Forbes, p. 208.

32

nnvy, whose opinion on this point is worth something. The codfish canght is
dried, salted, and sent in great part to northern £arope, to Spain, and to the
Mediterranean, where they are purchased in large quantities for the use of the
Catholics during Lent.^

Salmon. — The salmon fishery of Iceland is in the hands of the Scotch,' but is
in not so advanced a state as the cod fisheries. Yet the salmon are to be found in^
vast numbers^ in all the rivers and lakes, especially in those which fiow into Bor-*
garfjordhr.^ Near the river Hvitd Forbes visited^ an establishment belonging to
Messrs. Ritchie of Peterhead, where nine Scotchmen were engaged in preserving
the salmon collected by the Icelanders in the neighboring streams. They had hna
a bad season, having caught only 20,000 pounds in weight, 30,000 being their
usual average. Several similar establishments' exist on the various salmon
rivers, and tnere is one in the north from which 50,000 pounds of kippered fish
are annually sent to Denmark.*^ The supply is literally inexhaustible.^ Laxa
river is one of the greatest localities for salmon fishery.^ Here, even as far
back as 1810, Mackenzie finds the natives catching 2,000 and 3,000 pounds
of fish, and recommends the occupation as fit for good speculation.^ There
are six kinds of salmon. For a description of the Icelandic manner of catching
fish, see Henderson, page 414 ; also. Hooker, vol. I, p. 226.

Shark and seal. — But the sea contains other fish besides the cod. The shark
and seal fisheries have their importance. Ou the north coast'' of the island sharks
are caught in great abundance a few miles from land.^ This fishing is done in
the summer season, firom April to the beginning of September.^ The shark oil,
or rathei' the shark-liver oil, is boiled out at little establishments on the coast ; ^
the shark skin is made into shoes,'' and the flesh is smoked and eaten.'' There
is a kind of dog-shark, which is considered an especial luxury. Before it is fit
for eating and ripe for appreciation, it must have been buried two years in the
sand. The epicures of Iceland consider this their " crack'' dish ; its only disad-
vantage being that it renders the eater unapproachable for — Dillon^ says — three
weeks. We may add that horse-eating is said to be practiced, as by some more
polished nations ; but in Iceland is commonly regarded with special disgust.^

Herring once abounded in Iceland, but have disappeared.^®

Trout are abundant in Thingvallavatn.^^

STATISTICS OF FISHERY.

A few statistics, now, in regard to the fisheries, would be convenient. We
regret not being able to give those which are undoubtedly given in the French
official returns. We must content ourselves, for the present, with presenting the
few details we have picked up from other sources.

Exported Jrom Iceland in the year 1806. — f Approximately}^ J

Fish..-. 650, 000 pounds-
Dried fifth : 750, 000 pounds.

Salted cod 150 barrels*

Codoil 807 barrels.

JShark oil 1,663 barrels*

Seal oil 24 barrels.

Fish liver ' 12 barrels.

Salted salmon 28 barrels.

Salted sharkskins 1,568

Total number of boats in Iceland in 1804 2, 163

Number of French ships employed in cod fishing in 1860 *' 269

Total tonnage of French ships in I860, (approximate) 12, 000 tons.^'

Number of French seamen employed in lcJ60^' " 7, 000

1 Hend., p. 281. « Mck., p. 204. " Forbes, p. 97.

« Forbes, p. 331. "^ Mck., p. 174. ^» See Appendix E.

» Mck., p. 286. « Ox., p. 163. "Forbes, p. 207.

* Forbes, p. 113. » Dill., pp. 83, 84. " There seem to have been no

• Forbes, pp. 120, J21. " Hend., p. 92. French vessels in 1810.

33

( Imported from ledandy Faroe islands, and Greenland^ into Great Britain during the year

1864.)

Fish, (total) :.. 1,065, 800

Train or blubber oil, (from Denmark and Iceland) 72 tons.

Seal skins, ('from Denmark and Iceland) ^. . 3,210

MINERAL RESOURCES.
COAL. — LIGNITE.

Mineral coal does not exist in Iceland, or at any rate has nowhere been dis-
covered, but the lignite deposits of which we have before spoken as existing on
the northwestern peninsula are a substitute. This combustible has, within the
past few years, been the object of experiments by the steamship company from
Denmark to Iceland, with what results we do not know. We have not been
able to find any analyses of the surturbrand, but from its aspect as described
by competent observers and from their remarks upon it, we are persuaded that
it must one day contribute, both directly and indirectly, an important aid to the
industrial progress of the island.

Sir G. S. Mackenzie speaks^ of certain pitchstones, found in the country,
which are highly combustible, but they do not exist in any large quantities. It
is to the present and past drift that we must look to supply fuel. We do not
speak of these combustibles as possible articles of commerce or as a source of
revenue, but as a native burning material of unspeakable value to local steam
locomotion, either on sea or on land, to future manufactories and to domestic
use. But there is a mineral product in Iceland which has a value extending to
the rest of the world— one which under proper management might be to-day,
as it certainly will become at some future, nearer or more remote, a source of
wealth, an inducement to immigration, and a benefit to the government who
shall carry on and protect its exploration. We refer to sulphur.

SULPHUR.

There are two principal fields of sulphur in Iceland, one near Krafla and Rey-
kjahlidh in the northeastern, the other at Krisuvlk in the southwestern corner.
The former is by far the most extensive region,' but the latter gives the purer
product.^ Every traveller gives us a description more or less minute of these
sulphur hills, and the beds of pure yellow, often a foot thick, which extend
about them.^

Up to a few years ago the sulphur had only been explored in the rudest way
by the natives* The industry thus carried on was almost insignificant in result,
and was soon abandoned when the supply of surface material became scanty .*^
Still the exportation of sulphur was enough during the days of the peasant
mining to give the brightest hopes of what it would be under enlightened man-
agement and economy; for during 40 years the exported quantity amounted on
an average to 22,000 pounds a year.*^ One of the most interesting and remark-
able facts connected with these mines is that a region apparently exhausted!
becomes resulphurized again, so that the stores of brimstone are practically as
inexhaustible "^ as those of the infernal regions. Although the mines of Krisuvlk
are 20 miles from HafnarQordhr,one of the best harbors in the island, and those
of Krafla are further still from the seaboard and from the principal trading^
station of Husavlk, it would appear that Icelandic sulphur is excessively cheap,^
half the p'/ice, say some, of Sicilian sulphur. With improved means of trans-

1 Mck., p. 368. * Hend., p. 129.

* Hend., p. 147. « Hend., p. 129; Ox., p. 138.

3 Ox., p. 138. ' 7 Hend.,p.l29; Milea,p.205; Duff.,p.l83.

< ^files, p. 203; P. and Z., pp. 70-72, 190-192. « Miles, p. 203 ; Ox., p. 133.

3 I o

34

portation it woald control the market. The Ozoniau, remarking on this, says,
(p. 138,) "like everything else in Iceland the light is under a bushel." Our
most trustworthy informatidh comes from Forbes, who, being an officer, sees the
importance of the sulphur supply, and enters energetically into a thorough dis-
cussion on the prospects of the Iceland beds. We shall give the substance of
what he says.^

The deposits are formed by the decomposition of the sulphurous fumes that
burst up from the ground, and afterwards sublimated as solid sulphur. A part
is mixed with clay; a part is almost pure sulphur, containing but four per cent,
of gangue. The number and energy of these sulphur gases continually coming
up is incredible ; they have saturated the earth over a region (and here he is
speaking of the smaller region of Krlsuvlk) of 25 miles in length. The sulphur-
earth, or impregnated clay, averages from six feet to three feet in thickness, and
contains 50 or 60 per cent, of pure sulphur. In the north the sulphur is even
more extensive, but it is not easy to get at, and is not so pure. Our author quotes
from Monsieur Robert's' description of the northern district, as follows :

Sulphur is found also at N^ma^all (in the north of Iceland) in geological circumstances
analogous to those of the beds at Krisuvik. It is found there generally in concrete masses of a
citron yellow color, quite pure, sometimes very plenty, and generally associated with lime and
silica. * * * It is to be regretted that the Danish government does not favor this industry,
which would furnish as fine sulphur as that of Sicily, and doubtless at a lower price. Bf.sides,
Denmark possesses in Iceland immense stores, which will one dav be of great value to her
when those of Sicily are exhausted. She ought never to grant the English the permission
they have desired, to work these mines, as has been done in Lapania in regard to the copper
mines.

So says the Frenchman, who sees the importance of the mines in time of
war. But Forbes congratulates himself that what the Frenchman hoped never
to see has actually taken place, the entire southern district being purchased by
an Englishman, Mr. Bushby, who likewise holds the refusal of the north.

Forbes savs :

t0

That gentleman visited the island in 3857, in her Majesty's ship Snake, and explored the
principal portion of it. Much struck with the dormant wealth of the sulphur districts, and
their value to England in the event of the Sicilian supply being cut off during war, after con-
siderable trouble he induced the peasant-proprietors to part with their titles^

To develop the Krlsuvlk mines, Forbes says, in the same connection, capital
would doubtless be required. He proposes a route for the transportation of
sulphur to Hafriar^ordhr, but his topography is not sustained by Olsen's map.
Judging by the trifling cost of production, he says, and moderate freight home —
the numerous vessels coming from England with salt returning in ballast — sul-
phur gathered from these sources would be able to undersell the Sicilian market
by almost a half.

OTHER MINERAL PRODUCTS. — ICELAND SPAR.

Besides sulphur, the mineral products of Iceland of any commercial value are
very limited. The eastern coast is little known, but there is found ^ the Iceland
spar, (calcite, Dana,) or double-refracting crystal, used for making polarizing
instruments, as well as certain ornamental stones, (obsidian,) some magnificent
zeolites, much prized by mineralogists, and splendid calcedonies.

IRON ORB. — SALT.

Iron ore is said to exist, * but, unless it be of superlative quality, no use could
be made of it with the present scarcity of proper coal or wood.

Salt works have been established in various places^ and the numerous salt
springs and hot springs were sought to be made available as sources of the

1 See Forbes, pp. 101, 109, 110, 111, 112. » Lipp., p. 888, and Encyc, p. 147.

' G. Miu., vol. I, p. 274. ^ Article on Iceland in Chambers^sCyclopsedia.

35

^ material or as sources of heat. Bat this maimfacture langnished in the true
Icelandic fashion.^ Indeed, in 1845, Iceland still imported salt.

TRADE.

HISTORY OF TRADE. — FREE TRADE.

Before the year 1776 the trade of Iceland was monopolized by a company of
Hamburg merchants settled at Bergen.' Then the King of Norway established
his own factories in each port, but he soon found that the speculation was more
profitable to his agents than to himself. He then opened the trade to all his
subjects, interdicting by severe laws all foreign commerce.* After a while the
trade again fell into the hands of a few grasping speculators,^ and the Iceland-
ers were compelled to follow their dictates. Against this system the Icelanders
struggled manfully for many* long years, till at last they were disfranchised by
the law of 1865,* which opened their commerce to the world. This, indeed,
was a great blessing to them ; but, as new-comers, it has been hard for them to
find a market for their wares. All they need now is an English or an American
market,* to give them a stimulus' to improve the quality of their wool and encour-
age them to larger industries.

EXPORTS. — IMPORTS.

The articles of export from Iceland are thus stated:^ fish, (cod, salmon,
liver,) salted mutton, oil, tallow, wool, stockings, mittens, skins, down, feathers,
salt, salphur, Iceland moss.

The articles of import ^ into Iceland are coffee, corn brandy, snuff, breadstuff,
deal boards, soap, sugar, tobacco, potatoes, iron, lines, hooks, &c.

TRADING.

Toward the end of June the period of traffic commences, and all the natives
repair to the trading stations.''' There are 21 ports,* but the principal ones are
Reykjavik and those on the Eskifjordhr, Isafjordhr, and Eyjafjordhr, these
being the centres of the four commercial districts,^ The districts of Reykjavik
and Isafjordhr supply the greatest quantity of salted and dried fish, and from the
latter the greater part of the oil is exported.^*^ The other districts are the centres
of the wool, mutton, and tallow trade.^^ The majority of the shipping is for
Gopenhagen,^^ the rest goes to the Mediterranean ports, so that it must not be
supposed that the tables showing the ships arriving in Great Britain give
by any means an indication of the general commerce of Iceland. Indeed, at
Reykjavik the shipping is very considerable, the ships arriving there from Den-
mark during May by twos and threes every day.^^

CURRENT PRICES.

We give here a list of the current prices of Icelandic produce for the year
1810, taken from Sir G. S. Mackenzie's work 2^^

Approximate.

1 pair mittens 4 skill, to 6 skill. == >0 00 JO 05

1 pair stockings 32 skill, to 18 skill. = 00 08

] pair fine stockings 64 skill, to 96 skill = 32 to 55

1 woollen jacket 40 skill, to 64 skill. = 20 to 32

1 fine wool jacket 192 skill, to 258 skill. = 96 to 130

1 Ox., p. 151. 7 Forbes, pp. 312, 313.

3 Dill., p. 285. 8 Dill., p. 286.

8 Miles, p. 299. ^ Mck., p. 285.

^ Miles, p. 302; Forbes, p. 69. 10 Mck., p. 285, and Dill., p. 287.

6 Ox., p. 249. "Dill., p. 288.

« Hend., p. 401 ; Dill., p. 287 ; Miles, p. 58 ; i« Dill., p. 177.

Forbes, p. 312; Duff., p. 140; Mck., p. 284. ^^ Mck., p. 284.

36

Approzimate.

1 pound of wool 12 skill, to 20 skill. = 06 to 10

] pound of eider down 2 lizd. 48 skill, to 3 rizd. = 1 35 to 165

1 pound of feathers 16 skill, to 20 skill. = 08 to 10

1 pound tallow 16 skill, to 22 skill. = 10 to II

1 pound of butter 10 skill, to 28 skill. = 05 to 14

1 skippered stockfish 12 to 20 rixd. = 6 00 to 10 00

1 skippered salt fish 15 to 30 rixd. = 8 00 to 15 00

1 barrel of oil 12 to 20 rixd. = 6 00 to 10 00

1 white fox skin • 80 skill, to 3 rixd. = 40 to 150

1 black fux skin 5 skill, to 8 rixd. = 0.025 to 4 00

100 swan's quills 2 rixd. 48 skill, to 38kill.= 1 a5 to 165

Ahorse - 6 rixd. to 40 rixd. = 3 00 to 20 00

A cow 16 rixd. to 24 rixd. = 8 00 to 12 00

A ewe with lamb 2 rixd. to 2i rixd. = 1 00 to 125

A wether 2 rixd. to 5 rixd. = 1 00 to 2 50

A lamb 80 skill, to 1 rixd. 32 skill. = 40 to 75

In " Oxonian's *' time articles seem to have risen from these prices. He gives ^
as examples : train oil, worth about $12 50 a tender ; tallow, worth about 12
cents a pound ; wool, worth about 21 cents a pound ; butter, worth about 15
cents a pound.

FUTURE. — TELEGRAPH.

The future of Iceland is closely connected with the future of her mother
government. If the same regime which has controlled the aflfairs of that island
continue in the years to come, the " best land the sun shines upon" can never
hold an important position among nations. If, however, a more liberal system
should be adopted, and the natural energy of the people be encouraged, the world
would be surprised at the rapid advance of this little northern island. We have
shown what effect such a government would have on agriculture and the sul-
phur mines. Let us now, in conclusion, speak of another point which to-day is
exciting interest in other directions. Forbes says, (pp. 330, 332, 333 :)

In these days of universal telegraphy not the least important feature in Iceland will be its
adoption as one of the chain of ports by which Europe and America are to be connected.
The manifest advantages of a north Atlantic telegraph would be that four electrical circuits
would be obtained, none of greater length than GOO miles. Colonel Shaffner of the United
States obtained in 1854 an exclusive right from the Danish government to establish a tele-
graph. His proposed route is: from Sartland to Faroes, 250 miles; Faroes to Iceland, 350
miles ; Iceland to Greenland, 550 miles ; Greenland to Labrador^ 600 miles.

A shorter distance between Iceland and Greenland seems possible.

There are only two objections to this line worthy of notice — the icebergs
of northern coasts and the submarine volcanic line off the southwestern extremity
of Iceland. This can be avoided by landing the cable on any of the many
eligible spots between Portland and Cape Reykjanes, and thence carrying the
line across the country to any part of Faxaf jordhr. All these parts of the coast
are free from icebergs; the shore ice, of which there is little, would not interfere
with telegraphy any more than it does in the American lakes and in the Baltic.

Last year a portion of this proposed route was surveyed by the English and
found to be highly favorable to a telegraph.

The advantages of such a route are too evident to be insisted on.

1 Ox., p. 249.

GEEENLAISTD.

EXPLORERS AND THEIR BOOKS. — WANT OP MAPS,

The many Arctic explorers have been remarkably diligent in publishing their
experiences. Every new visitor to the romantic regions about the pole writes
us his story, so that there is hardly a part of the world about which so much
has been said or which has received so large a share of public interest as this
of the far north. It might be supposed that from all these varied narratives it
would be easy to become acquainted with Greenland ; and indeed we have only
to picture to our minds a vast glacier, a land of eternal ice and snow, bordered
by a sea which at times is partly itself a solid continent, at times swarms with
icebergs and floes, and we arrive at a general conception of the country. But as
soon as we attempt to fix the details of its geography and to define its precise
condition and resources, we find how few real data there are. For instance, it
certainly seems strange that, for a country which has so long b(fen the object of
interest to geography, we should be unable to find two maps or charts that
agree, nor any single one in which we can put entire confidence ; yet so it
\8, not only in regard to the mysterious regions of the far north and the deso-
late interior, but also for the inhabited coast. As for the condition of the Green-
landers and their industries, we have had to rely mainly upon chance remarks let
fall by entertaining narrators. Thus, from the vast amount of material which
we have been obliged to dig over, we have collected but a meagre gleaning.
But what more, after all, should we expect to find about a land of so little rich-
ness as Greenland? Situated far away from the ordinary channels of interest
and industry, blighted by a severe climate, and supporting a small and almost
worthless population, it is only natural that those who journey thither should
bring us back little more than descriptions of the strange picturesqueness and
poetry of the scenery and accounts of their own hardships and adventures.

"We have given in our appendix a list of the Arctic explorers as drawn up by
Captain Osborne, himself an Arctic traveller, and an active member of the
Royal Geographical Society. Most of the later travellers, besides their object
of finding the clue to the story of Sir John Franklin's fate, have had the ambi-
tion to reach the north pole, and to confirm or destroy the hypothesis of an
open Polar sea. Dr. Kane's expedition is claimed to have solved this latter
problem ; but, as is well known, many high authorities doubt that Morton saw
the extremity of Greenland. We mention especially Osborne, who argues against
the assertions of Morton, and denies his competency as an observer; and Peter-
mann, perhaps the most learned authority on Arctic matters, who, accepting the
observations, believes the sea of Kane to be an indentation only from the sound.

GEOGRAPHY.

SIZE AND SITUATION.

Greenland (Danish : Gronland) is an immense island, the general breadth
being from east to west six hundred miles.^ Its southern extremity is Cape
Farewell, in latitude 59° 49' north. Thence it extends northward to a limit
which is as yet unknown, or doubtfully conjectured, but which Dr. Hayes
believes to be an open sea of an average diameter of two thousand miles.*

* Encyc, p. 38. — (In all parts of Greenland^ Encyc. means vol. x of the eighth edition.)
« Hayes, O. P. S., p. 356.

38

GBNBRAL ASPECT.

The general aspect of the countrj is dreary enough. It is a yast reservoir
of ice — a huge glacier, perpetually supplied from its interior, and moving cease-
leBsly toward the sea with tne phenomena exhibited by the glaciers of the Alps.^
This table-land of ice rests upon a foundation which seems to be sinking^ little
by little — a few feet a century^ — in its southern part, and upheaving* toward
the north, where it is broader.^ The interior of this ice-field is completely
unknown, and conjecture alone can help us to fill that immense blank on the
map. Its shores are indented with deep inlets, and beset with rocky islands.^
In some sheltered spots in the south, Uiese fiords are bordered with meadow-
lands and beech and willow,^ whence, probably, the name Greenland, given to
it by Eric, the first colonist.^ The western shore of Greenland is that which has
the greater interest, as it is the one which has been carefully explored, and con-
tains all the settlements. It is to that that we confine our attention. Baffin's
bay, whose waters wash this coast, is invaded with ice, sometimes partly as a
barrier wall, sometimes as floating bergs. The phenomena exhibited by the ice
in its various states, in process of formation, instability in motion, and in melt-
ing, have been the study of the Arctic explorers. At present the ice naviga-
tion, once so littfe understood, and so dangerous, has been reduced to almost as
great precision and certainty as the navigation of the high seas.® The northern
part of Baffin's bay is now called Melville bay, and is defined as extending as
high up as the "North Water;" that is, to latitude 76°.'' North of this bay
the coast has no general interest, there being no settlements, and only from time
to time detached Esquimaux huts. But it is the upper Greenland, beyond the
North Water and above Smith's sound, which has been the scene of the labors
and adventures of Kane and Hayes. We are thus driven to less modern autho-
rities for the bulk of what we say regarding the settled and productive portions of
Greenland. An excellent description in the Encyclopsedia Britannica, prepared
by the Rev. (formerly Captain) William Scoresby, " a venerated authority,"'
will serve as a basis to our description of this coast and its inhabitants;^ and
during this account, whatever is not vouched for by other authority comes from
that valuable article.

Let us, however, glance at the maps of Hayes, Kane, and Petermann, delin-
eating these extreme northern regions, merely to mention a few of the most
important geographical facts there indicated. Gapes Alexander and Isabella
are the opposite headlands that guard the entrance to Smith's sound. On Cape
Alexander we find some vegetation and a few birds, but north of that the coast is
bare.^ Into the interior stretch the vast Mer de Glace and Humboldt's glacier,
over a large peninsula, extending from the Arctic highlands in the south to
Peabody bay in the north, a peninsula for which the renowned geographer of
Germany; Augustus Petermann, proposes ^^ the name of Hayes's peninsula. Near
Port Foulke, directly north of Cape Alexander, there are numerous reindeer.^^
This whole coast is new to geography — almost all of it being first known through
the labors of American explorers and bearing the names of distinguished Ameri-
cans. The discussion of the results of these expeditions will be found in Peter-
mann's article. We must turn away from these extreme regions to investigate
those which have importance as producing- countries.

South of Cape Alexander, but few Esquimaux are found and little life of any
kind is seen, till we come to Northumberland island, which abounds in birds,
foxes, grasses, and cochlearia.^* (See Petermann's article.)

i Hayes, O. P. S., p. 138. ^ Hayes, O. P. S., p. 58.

2 Hayes, O. P. S.. p. 402. » Kane, I, p. 307.

3 Lyell, Geol., p. 145. ^ Kane, I, p. 454. note to p. 46.

* 8om., pp. )5^'60. 10 Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1867, p. 192.

6 Encyc, p. 38. " Hayes's map, O. P. S., 96.

6 Hayes, A. B. J., p. 89. " Kane I, p. 333; Hayes, A. B. J., p. 93.

39

The northernmost point of colonization is Yotlik.^

Settlement, — Greenland was discovered by Gunbibm, an Icelander, early in
the tenth centary, and was first colonized by Icelandic adventarers, about 983.
Many other emigrants went thither, at nearly the same time, from Norway and
the Orkneys ; and for several centuries the colonies, which were all probably»
like the modern Danish ones, on the west coast, increased in numbers, and kept
up a prosperous trade with Norway. But, towards the beginning of the fifteenth
century, they were attacked by the Esquimaux, the aboriginal population of the
country; and almost simultaneously their community was devastated by the
Black Deaths which was then everywhere the terror of civilized man. The
European inhabitants of Greenland seem to have become absolutely extinct; for,
from this time, nothing more was heard of these ancient colonies.

During the last 150 years (from 1721) the Danes have formed numerous
settlements on the western coast, between latitude 60^ and latitude 73^ north*
There are now 13 colonies, including some smaller settlements called factories.
They form two jurisdictions, governed each by a royal inspector,^ and bearing
the names of North Greenland and South Greenland.

Population, — The population of the Danish colonies was 7,000 in 1832;^
8,735 (of whom 234 were Europeans) in 1845;* 9,896 (of whom 248 were
Europeans) in 1855.'^ The whole number of inhabitants in the far north, in the
interior, and on the eastern coast, is utterly unknown ; and Crantz's estimate,®
given on the authority of " a factor who lived many years in the country," is a
mere conjecture. Kane states'' that the natives of the upper coast have been
greatly thinned out by small-pox, and that many have in consequence fled to the
protection of the colonies. This may account for the increase exhibited by the
Danish statistics. The opinion that the native tribes outside of the colonies are
disappearing is, however, strongly questioned by Markham,^ who thinks it by
no means improbable that the cheerless and unexplored wilds of central Green-
land are supporting a scanty population even to the pole.

Danish colonies, — The sites of the Danish colonies have been chosen with
reference to their trading facilities.^ They are for the most part profitable to
their government ;' and they maintain the government employes and natives in
comfort and abundance. The people live exclusively by hunting and fishing;
and from the district of Upernavik alone two vessels, of three hundred tons
each, are annually freighted with the products of their industry and hardy skill,
consisting of whale, seal, and shark oil; seal, fox, reindeer, and bear skins;
eider down, walrus, and narwhal ivory ; codfish and other articles of less value.^

The northern inspectorship contains the following colonies, which we name
in the order of their position, beginning at the north :

1. Upernavik, though of recent formation, already one of the most important
colonies in North Greenland, having, in 1855, a population of 547 souls, of
whom 23 were Europeans.^^

The principal settlement contains about 200 inhabitants.^^ It has a govern-
ment house, a church, a school-house, two storehouses, a shop, two blubber-
houses, and some dozen Esquimaux habitations.^^ The entrance to its harbor
is somewhat unsafe.^^ Tessuissak, in this colony, situated in latitude 73^ 40'
north," has a small harbor.^*

PrQven has a snug but tortuous harbor. It is situated on a gneissoid spur of
land on the southern slope. There is a government-house here. The trade is
exportation of seals. Behind the town is a valley rich with Arctic vegetation,

1 Kane, I, p. 32. » Mark., pp. 88, 97. ~"

» Hayes, Sm. R., 1861, p. 152. » Kane, I, p. 21.

' Encyc. Brit., seventh edition, X, p. 762. ^^ Meddel., IV, p. 155.

* Encyc, p. 39. ii Hayes, O. P. S...p. 39.

* Meddel., IV, p. 155; see also Appendix C. ^^ Hayes, Sm. R., 1861, pp. 151, 152.
6 30,000 in 1730, 20,000 in 1746 ; the decrease »» Hayes, O. P. 8., p. 35 ; McD., p. 42.

dne to small-pox, (Crantz, I, pp. 10, 11.) '* Hayes, 0. P. S., p. 54.
-f Kane, II, pp. 119, 120.

40

2. Omanak, founded in 1758 ; containing, in 1855, a population of 695, of
whom 23 were Europeans ; ^ noted for its extensive seal fishery ; and having
coal mines which supply the colony.

3. Rittcnbenk, founded in 1725; having, in 1855, a population of 386, (11
Europeans.)^

4. Godhavn, or Good Haven, on Disco island, latitude 69^ 12' north, the
principal colony of North Greenland, and the residence of the inspector ; ^ popu-
latiiin, in 1855, 309, (IS Earopeans;)^ having a coal mine which supplies the
other settlements on Disco bay with that article.

5. Jacob.sliavn, or Jacob's Haven, founded in 1741 ; for some time one of
the most advantageous establishments on Disco bay ; population, in 1855, 358
(22 Europeans.)^

6. Chris tianshaab, or Ghristiiln's Hope, founded in 1734; population, in 1855,
476, (14 Europeans.)^

The factory of Glanshavn belongs to this colony.^

7. Eged()dminde, or Egede's memory, founded in 1759 by a son of Hans
Egede, (see 10. Godthaab;) population, in 1855, 873, (17 Europeans.)^ The
main settlement is on the island of Ausiet, in Disco bay. Between this and
Fox island there is a very eecure harbor. A great many seals are caught here,
but the collecting of eider down forms the most important branch of industry.

This colony comprises many large and small islands ; among which are Kron-
prindscns Eiland and Hunde Eiland.

The southern inspectorship contains the following colonies :

8. Holeteinborg, founded in 1759; population, in 1855, 847, (10 Europeans ;)^
one of the dryest places on the coast,^ with an important trade in reindeer skins.

9. Sukkertoppen, or Sugar Loaves, so called from three pointed hills ; founded
in 1775 ; population, in 1855, 784. (16 Europeans ;)^ having one of the best and
safest harbors in the country.* This is the principal depot for reindeer skins,*
with which the Danish market is supplied by this colony and Holsteinborg.''
When Kane was at Sukkertoppen, (10th July, 1853,) 4,000 skins had been sent
to Denmark during the season, and more were on hand.^ There is an important
trade in seal blubber.

The Nappasok islands® belong to this colony.

10. Godthaab, or Good Hope, the oldest colony in Greenland, founded in 1721
by Hans Egede, a Norwegian, who settled in Greenland as a missionary, with
his family, before the Danish colonization ; population, in 1855, 869, (33 Euro-
peans.)^ It is the residence of the inspector of South Greenland.

Neu Herrnhut, in the colony of Godthaab, founded in 1733, is one of three
Moravian settlements, for a detailed account of which see Crantz's History
of Greenland, books V-X. The population of this place was 440 in 1761.®
In 1855, the number of Moravian missionaries and catechists in Greenland,
with their wives, children, and servants, was 2il}^

The Klingarne islands are excellent seal-fishing grounds.^^

11. Fidkernsesset, or Fish Point, founded in 1754; population, in 1855, 437,
(15 Europeans ;)^ having rfn extensive seal fishery, carried on by- the Danes, by
means of immenee nets ; rejoicing, also, in an excellent cod fishery. The place
has, according to Kane, an enviable reputation for climate and health. Except
perhaps Holstdnborg, it is the dryest station upon the coast ; and the springs,
which well up through the mosses, frequently remain unfrozen throughout the
year.^* The channel of the harbor lias moderate draught.

1 Meddel , IV, p. 155, 7 Kane, I, p. 22.

3 Hayes, O. P. S., p. 444. « Kane, I. p. 29.

3 Encj'c. Brit., seventh edition, X, p, 756. ® Crantz, I, p. 11.

* Kane, I, p. 21. lo Meddel., IV, p. 174.

* Crantz, I, p. 12. " Crantz, I, p. 7.

6 Kane, I, p. 28. la Kane, I, pp. 21-23.

41

Lichtenfels, in this colony, founded in 1758, is a second Moravian settlement.^
There are many remains of ancient dwelh'ngs here.^

12. Frederikshaab, or Frederick's Hope, founded in 1742 ; population, iii
1855, 716, (8 Europeans;)^ a good haven, and a place of traffic*

13. Julianehaab, or Juliana's Hope, founded in 1775 ; population, in 1855*
2,599, (38 Europeans;)^ the most important colony of South Greenland;
extending beyond Cape Farewell along the eastern side of the island. There
is always a pretty regular exportation of seal blubber, seal skins, &c.* Hence
the Danish market derives its supply of the valued furs of the saddle-back
seal.^

Friedrichsthal, in this colony, near Cape Farewell, is the third Moravian
settlement.®

EASTERN COAST.

Of the eastern coast we have but few accounts. There is, however, a brief
account of Graah's voyage to the eaet shore, in 1829, in the Journal of the
Royal Geographical Society, vol. 1, for 1832, page 247. From this we learn
that Graah went to Nenortalik, whence he started March 20, 1829. On the
1st of October he reached Nugarbik, in latitude 63^ 22' north. His object was
to find ancient Icelandic ren^ius, but he was unsuccessful. He found, however,
certain Greenland tribes that possessed rather a Scandinavian than Esquimaux
character and appearance. All the coast is colder, more barren and miserable
than the west coast. It may be said to consist of one uninterrupted glacier,
exhibiting only a few patches of vegetation, generally on the banks of the rivers.
During the whole summer of 1829 there was not one day that could be called
warm ; and, before the 14th of June, the thermometer had never risen above 51^
Fahrenheit. At Ekolumies, in latitude 63^ 20', the vegetation appeared superior
to that of any other part of the coast, even of Julianehaab, which is reported to
be the most favored part of the west coast. This vegetation consists of fine
grass, sorrel, low bushes of willow, and birch. The food is dried seaPs flesh,
with a little game and fish. At 63° 36' there are bears, hares, birds, and salmon.
In latitude 63^ 11' 12'', at Amitoarsuk, Graah found an excellent harbor.

CLIMATE OP THE EXTREME NORTH.

The climate of Greenland, although severe, is one of unusual healthfulness.''
In glancing at the table in our Appendix B, it will be seen that Greenland is
much colder than Iceland. While the average temperature of the year is 39^
for Reykjavik, it is 27^ in Godthaab and Neu Herrnhut, which are in a lower
latitude, while the temperature of Lichtenau, 200 miles to the south of Reyk-
javik, is 6^ colder during the year. As for the far northern parts of the coimtry,
we find there those seemingly fabulous temperatures that have astonished us in
the narratives of Kane and Hayes. As is well known, the seasons in the polar
regions are a long summer day and a long winter night; but such a defined
division is rather artificial, for there is hardly any precise limit to the seasons.
Winter is the great dominant period, but it is better to divide the year of the
extreme circumpolar regions as follows :^

1. Winter; season of fast ice.

2. Time of water-drops.

3. End of May ; season of thaws.

4. Middle of August; season of no ice.

5. Last of September ; season of freezing.

1 Kane, I, pp. 25-27, 453. » Kane, I, p. 22.

8 Encyc. Brit., seventh edition, X, p. 756. ^ Kane, I, p. 453.

' Medde]., IV, p. J 55. ^ Hayes, paper read before Sm. Instit.; 1858.

* Crantz, I, p. 4. • Kane, II, pp. 208, 209.

42

It is daring the first of these seasons that the fearfully low temperatures were
observed by Dr. Kane in Rensselaer bay. From Kane^ we quote a few of the
more remarkable temperatures :

January 17, — 49^ Fahrenheit; 20th, — 64^ to — 67©; Februarys, — 60©
to — 75^; five successive days of March, —46^ (mean daily temperature;)
March 18, — 49°; 19th. — 42© (mean ;) 20th, — 43^, —35^ (mean ;) 2l8t, — 480,
— 190 (mean;) 22d, — 7© (mean;) 23d, —90 (mean;) 24th, — 18^ (mean;) 25th,
—350 (mean;) 26th, — 43° (mean;) 27th, — 34^ (mean.)

The lowest temperature at Rensselaer harbor was —68^.* Near an iceberg
Hayes observed — 68J0.3 In summer, in these regions, the thermometer often
rose to +350 or +40<^ ;* and on the 4th of July, 1854, the mercury stood 530.9.*

Petermann's article, given in our appendix, shows how much warmer the
temperature is on the southern side of Hayes's peninsula, where the effect of the
warm ocean current is felt, than at Rensselaer bay, where Kane wintered. A
former article by Petermann, on the north and south pole, in the " Mittheilungen "
for 1865, page 146, speaks of the immense influence of water currents on climate,
though he does not there apply his principle to show how Baffin's bay is affected
thus. Mr. Hopkins, of the Royal Geographical Society, maintains^ that this
theorv of the enormous effects of ocean streams has been greatly exaggerated,
and tnat the differences of climates and the irregularities of the isothermal lines
depend much more on the winds, especially, in the present case, on the moist
southern winds, than on any other causes. The discussion of this subject is
irrelevant here, and we only mention these opinions to show that there may be
more than one explanation for the fact that the western shore of Baffin's bay is
much milder than the eastern J A reference to the temperature charts of Dr.
Kane shows a constant swerving of the temperature lines toward the pole as
they cross the coast of Greenland. The easiest and most natural explanation
of this fact is the Gulf Stream, which, sending a branch to the west of Baffin's
bay, warms the water and indirectly the air. Dr. Hayes has shown that, were
there an open Polar sea bounding Greenland on its north, it would have a strong
result in tempering the climate of the shores.* The observations of Dr. Kane
have not been able to prove anything in this respect. The climate of the far
north is still a mystery.^ It was from a deduced formula, and not from any
direct observations, that Forbes maintains that the average temperature at the
poles is l^.i® Some authorities entirely disbelieve that there is the slightest

f round for believing that the climate grows warmer in nearing the pole.^^
[ickson, however, who discussed the whole subject before the Royal Geograph-
ical Society, and who has been one of the first to state the question clearly and
represent the arguments in their true light, believes that, as the equator is not
the line of maximum heat, so the pole is not the point of maximum cold ; and he
quotes the eminent authority, Sir David Brewster, as believing that the pole is
warmer by 10^ than any other part of the Arctic zone. We are compelled to
refrain from a further comparison of opinion on this mooted question, and to con-
sider rather the effects of this climate upon man. On this point we have the
direct authority of Kane and Hayes, and the valuable opinions of Osborne and
Petermann. Kane says^ it is easy for Americans or Europeans to inure them-
selves to an ultra-Arctic climate. On account of the suddenness of the assault,
it is soon found out whether a man is acclimatizable or not, whereas it is just the
other way in the torrid zone. Hayes* speaks of the cold as being no barrier to

I Kane, I, pp. 154, 174, 179, 182, 183, 185. '^ Kane, II, p. 429.

a Hayes, 8m. Rep., 1861, p. 155. » Hayes, O. P. S., chap. 32.

3 Hayes, O. P. S., p. 284. 9 Osborne, R. G. S., vol. 26, p. 292.

* Hayes, A. B. J., p. 342. 10 Richardson, p. 251.

6 Kane, II, p. 425. ia McD., p. 281.

e Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc, vol. 27,(1857, ) p. 206; also, i* Kane, I, p. 245.
Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc, vol. 28, (1858,) p. 362.

43

an Arctic expedition, for even in the extreme rigor of the winter the cold is
endnrable. Osborne remarks^ upon the change of opinion lately undergone in
regard to the possibility of the endurance of Arctic winters. He says that Pro-
vidence has peopled the frigid zone to the extreme latitude yet reached, and has
placed the animals on which the inhabitants feed there also. As for Petermann,
he says^ he hopes to see the day when the north pole will be visited on pleasure
trips, as the Swiss glaciers are now; he finds no objection in the severity of the
climate.

CLIMATE OF THB COLONIES.

But of more importance to us is the determination of the climate of southern
Greenland, in the settlements. We give an abstract famished by Grantz^ of a
year in a Greenland colony.

The limits of summer are from the beginning of May to the end of Septem-
ber. In August it often snows, but also it is often quite hot. The weather is
changeable, but not suddenly so. Most of the storms come in autumn. The
general state of the atmosphere is remarkably pure and light, and of unusual
healthiness.^

In Augast there was (1761) warm sunshine, with mist and rain from the
south. Towards the end, ice in fresh water, yet warm sunshine ; afterwards
snow or cold rain. Temperature at Godthaab, 41 ^ ;' temperature at Neu Herm-
hut, 37° ; temperature (August) at Lichtenau, 41^.

September. First, northeast wind with warm sunshine, but ice in the shade.
Secondly, south wind and warm weather ; then southwest winds, with storms.
Finally a south and a north storm, with frost in the ground and on the windows,
even in sunshine. Fresh water froze two or three inches thick. Temperature
at Godthaab, 36° ; temperature at Neu Hermhut, 34° ; temperature at Lichte-
nau, 40O.

• October. Northeast wind ; much snow ; northeast cold storm. Temperature
at Godthaab* 30° j temperature at Neu Herrnhut, 33° ; temperature at Lichte-
nau, 36°.

November. Northeast cold wind ; alcoholic liquors frozen ; northern bays
frozen. By day, sun shone warm enough to evaporate snow ; southeast storm ;
disagreeable weather. Temperature at Godthaab, 22° ; temperature at Neu
Hermhut, 16° ; temperature at Lichtenau, 26^,

December. Everything covered with snow; lightning sometimes; severe
cold, then mild pleasant weather with southeast wind. Temperature at Godthaab,
17° ; temperature at Neu Herrnhut, 12° ; temperature at Lichtenau, 22°.

January. North and northeast winds with genuine cold; afterwards mild
snowy weather, interchanged with clear cold. Temperature at Godthaab, 12° ;
temperature at Neu Herrnhut, 9° ; temperature at Lichtenau, 20°.

February. Beginning, the same, then rain and slippery ice, thawing and
rain, with east and south winds. Temperature at Godthaab, 13° ; temperature
at Neu Herrnhut, 22° ; temperature at Lichtenau, 23°.

March. Constant fine, warm spring weather ; better than it used to be about
this time in Germany, with southeast and also northeast winds, but in the day
mostly calm. Temperature at Godthaab, 16° ; temperature at Neu Herrnhut,
22° ; temperature at Lichtenau, 28°.

1 A. G. 8., pp. 36, 281.

« Mittheil., 1865, pp. 146, 147.

3 Crantz, I, pp. 43, 44, 46, 47, 50, 51 , 52.

* Hayes, Sm. R., 1858.

^ These temperature figures are taken from Appendix B, and refer to other observations.
It will be observed that the observations made at Godthaab, have the most value, as they were
taken daring 13 years, while those at Nea Hermhut and Lichtenau are from one year's and
two years' observations.

44

April, Yeiy cold northeast winds, tben south wind and rain ; one could bear
to be without a fire; again cold and piercing. Temperature at Godthaab, 22^;
temperature at Neu Herrnhut, 25^ ; temperature at Licbtenan, 32^.

May. Thawing weather, with intermingled frost and snow. After hot days
cold nights and rain. Temperature at Godthaab, 32^ ; temperature at Neu
Herrnhut, 32^ ; temperature at Lichtenau, 39^.

June. Warm ; thaw ; garden sowed ; cold southeast wind for a time, then
agreeable weather. Temperature at Godthaab, 39^; temperature at Neu
Herrnhut, 30^ ; temperature at Lichtenau, 43^.

July. Rainy weather ; warm, with hot south and east breezes, but mostly

r^m. Temperature at Godthaab, 42° ; temperature at Neu Herrnhut, 40° ;
temperature at Lichtenau, 45°.
It seems, then, that any idea drawn from the published experiences of Arctic
travellers, with their fearful tales of severe cold, must be false when applied to
that portion of Greenland to be counted as within the limit of civilization.
Kane and Hayes have proved that the climate of the extreme north does not
preclude the possibility of healthful existence; but these other accounts show
that that of southern Greenland cannot interfere with man's healthful develop-
"•• ment and prosperity.

FLORA,

Greenland has a much more Arctic flora than Iceland. There is some grass,
but the principal vegetables are mosses, marsh plants, sombre lichens, the service
tree, (bearing fruit,) red-snow, algae, sorrel, birches, and dwarf pines.^ Many
of the common plants are astringent,* and are specifics against the scurvy.
They are protected from destruction during the winter by a coverlet of snow.^
The most important anti-scorbutic is the scurvy grass, a thick, tufted, juicy
plant, of extreme fecundity.* The plants grow in greater abundance where
they are submitted to the influence of the warm currents, {vide Northumberland
islands,) or are protected by hills as in certain settlements. Morton observed
an increase of vegetable life in his journey northward.^ The want of vegeta-
bles compels the natives to rely almost entirely upon flesh and fish. They are
the most carniverous people on the face of the earth, says^ Osborne.

The southern extremity of Greenland, from Cape Farewell to Sukkertoppen,
is found to possess nearly the same vegetation, as it has nearly the same climate,
as Labrador."^

DRIFT FUEL. — GOAL.

We have seen that in Iceland the want of indigenous fuel was supplied by a
constant drifting of wood upon its shores. The same thing is true, though to a
less extent, of Greenland. The currents that sweep round Cape Farewell bring
a meagre supply of fuel.® But there are besides valuable mines of coal in Disco
bay, and also in the far north in the Parry islands. The former of these are
worked and supply the colonists with the means of resisting the inclement
weather. The latter will one day have important bearings on the question of
Arctic expeditions. But of this we shall speak further on.

ESQUIMAUX.

The natives of Greenland, the Esquimaux, are found as far north as explorers
have gone.^ It is a race similar in language, habits, and general character, to
some of the north Asiatic tribes, (Kamtschadales, &c.^®) This fact has an

1 Som., p. 341; Encyc, p. 42. « R. G. S., pp. 36, 287. '

? Kane, I, p. 271. "^ Durourd; Kano, II, p. 442, where see list of plants.

3 Kane, I, p. 266. 8 Hayes, O. P. S., p. 60.

* Encyc, p. 42. 9 Os., R. G. S., xxxvi, p. 26.— See Richardson, p. 290.

6 Kane, I, pp. 293, 462. Jo Encyc. p. 43.

45

important bearing en the form of Greenland, and the climate of its more remote
regions. It would be out of our province to discuss this question. We simply
refer to the map of Petermann in our appendix, and to the late report ^ from the
whalers north of Behring's straits, which seem to confirm the hypothesis before
held of a polar continent, or of a continuation of Greenland westward.

The Esquimaux are square-built, hearty, deep-chested, merry-hearted.^ They
are very short, and have a general compactness of build, with a superabundance
of flesh.^ Their eyes are elongated,* their skin, either from dirt (see Crantz)
or naturally, is yellowish, their cheek bones are prominent, and their flesh is soft
and flabby.

As to the character of these people, Crantz gives us a favorable idea ; much
more favorable than later authorities. A general characteristic of all Esqui-
maux is uncleanliness, especially in their habits of eating.^ The anecdotes
which Crantz and Kane and Hayes give about their devouring raw blubber and
intestines with disgusting avidity, are familiar to all readers. The Esquimaux
are exceedingly poor,^ and exceedingly careless about being less so. Their
utter improvidence and stubborn disregard of the future "^ leads them a life of
continual activity to supply themselves and their families with the necessaries
of life. They are self-reliant, brave^ in resisting the great dangers to which they
are every day exposed, perfectly callous, without any exhibition of emotion.''^
Their morality is good, though they often steal,^ and are sometimes faithless ^^
and treacherous.^^

Almost all of those on the western coast profess Christianity, which exerts over
them a refining influence in lessening their characteristic faults, and especially
in encouraging their hospitality, which is now remarkable.^*

We must refer to Hayes, to Kane, and especially to Crantz, for a description
of the domestic life of this strange people, and of their methods of hunting and
fishing.

The very marked characteristic, as we have said, of the Esquimaux, is his
enormous appetite.

The keen climate, exciting him to a continual exercise, causes his system to
demand a much larger amount of carbon than is needed by the inhabitants of a
temperate zone. He is, therefore, obliged to hunt and fish continually, for his
natural improvidence prevents his laying up a store of food for those seasons
when animal life is less abundant. Perhaps this obstacle is after all a blessing
to him, for the scurvy, that dire enemy which attacked and almost defeated
Kane's party, is due not so much to the extreme cold as to salt provisions. In
fact, it is entirely avoided, thinks Hayes, by a liberal diet of fresh meat.^^

ANIMAL LIFE.

Greenland has been blessed with a reiriarkable profusion of animal life. The
variety in the kinds of fish, flesh, and fowl is not more noticeable than the innu-
merable swarms in which they live. Even in the coldest regions food is to be
found. It would be hard to find, says Kane,^* a circle of 50 miles in diameter
entirely destitute of animal resources. Petermann, in the Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society ,^^ gives a careful study to the animal life fit for food in the
the Arctic regions. He enumerates the polar bear, the musk ox, the walrus,

^ See recent Now York papers on the dis* ^ Kane, U, p. 212.

covery of the *' Polar Continent." ® Hayes, A. B. J., p. 131.

« R. G. S., pp. 36, 288. lo Kane, I, p. 363.

3 Encyc. " Hayes, A. B. J., p. 244.

* McD., p. 26. ' 13 Kane, II, p. 121.

6 Os., R. G. 8., xxxvi, p. 287. i» Hayes, O. P. S., p. 151.

6 Hayes, A. B. J., p. 130. " Kane, vol. I, p. 244.

7 Hayes, O. P. S., pp. 114, 116. i» R. G. S., vol. xxil, pp. 118, 127.

46

the whale, the moose, the reindeer, the wolf, foxes, polar hare, the seal, and
▼arioQB small quadrupeds, immense flocks of aquatic birds, the salmon, salmon
trout, and herring. (See also Back, appendix.) The quantity of whales in the
Polar sea north of Behring's straits is prodigious. This is due to a warm
current of some kind, and we shall find the same profusion of animal life when-
ever ah influence upon the climate produces a similar effect.^ In looking at
Petermann's map appended to this article, one will naturally be struck with this
fact : were the strong arguments of geographers for a Polar sea on the northern
shore of Greenland valid, then we must suppose that the remote and unexplored
regions of Greenland have a milder climate and a more profuse fauna than the
cold strip near Smith's sound. Kane says' that Morton observed an increase of
animal life as he neared the open water, and he enumerates a list of some of the
birds which were seen about the cliffs : Bretit goose, eider duck, king duck,
dorekie, arctic petrel, ivory gull, ash-backed gull, burgomaster, kittiwake, and
sea swallow. If Morton saw these indications of a rich animal life near Ken-
nedy channel, which Hayes afterwards found frozen over, what may we expect
to find on the shores of an ever open ocean ?

The reindeer of Greenland is used for food ; his skin is made into clothing,
&c., and it is exported in large supplies from the southern colonies ; as for his
horns, they are also an article of trade. Hayes observed^ the reindeer very far
north, with hares and blue and white foxes, which are also hunted for their
skins. Kane, too, notices ^ the extended migrations of the reindeer, as well as
the extreme latitude which the Polar hare reaches.^

There seems to be much uncertainty as to the limits of the musk ox, lemains
of which are found in many places to the northward.^ There is a tradition
among the Arctic Highlanders that there are herds of musk oxen far north on
an island in an iceless ocean.'' Can this island be that portion of Greenland
which Petermann supposes between Kennedy channel and the Polar ocean, a
strip uf land which might easily be mistaken for an island, bounded as it is on
two sides by open seas, and perhaps on the other two by ice-glaciers 1

The Esquimaux dog is one of the most useful of the native animals, especially
to the northern tribes who migrate from place to place on sledges. The dog is
a large fine animal, remarkable for strength and ferocity.^ In some places wild
dogs are found who hunt their food for themselves in large packn.^

Dr. Kane was overrun by rats, which he found himself unable to exterminate.^^

The seal,^^ the whale, and the walrus are the real support of the Greenlanders.
Seal-skins are their clothing ; blubber is their fuel ; walrus and seal's meat,
with any sort of fat, blubber, or oil, is their food. The whales are attracted to
the coast of Greenland by the enormous numbers of medusae, or sea-blubber,
which swim in the waters and are a favorite food for all the large sea-animals.^*

For a description of the dangers of seal and walrus hunting on the ice, we
refer to Kane and Hayes, for such points do not come within our sphere.

NORTHERN WHALE FISHERIES.

As for the whale fishery it is described in all its details by Scoresby. We have
rather to show the importance of it as an industry. To do this we give the
official returns of the imports from Greenland into Great Britain during ten

years

13

1 R. G. S , vol. xxii, pp. 118, 127.

» Kane, vol. I, p. 461, note 50 to p. 304.

3 Hayes, Sm. R., 1661, p. 155.

* Kane, I, p. 80.

6 Kane, I, p. 395.

6 McD., p. 103 ; Kane, I, note 18, p. 81.

7 Mark., p. 98, and Hayes, p. 35.

^ Kane, passim, and Hayes, passim.
^ Kane, I, pp. 455, note 14 to p. 65.
10 Kane, I, p. 393.
" Crantz, p. 9.
" Enc^c, p. 43.

1' Parliamentary reports, xxvn, (1859,)
and III, (1865,) p. 328.

47

QUANTITIES.

COMPUTED REAL 7ALUE.

Year.

Oil-train and
blubber.

Seal-skins,
undressed.

Whalefins.

Oil -train and
blubber.

Seal-skins,
undressed.

Whalefins.

Other
articles.

Tons.

Number.

Tons,

1854..

1,716

62, 376

51

£69,670

£12,475

£10,345

£426

1855..

3,151

173, 302

25

160, 071

77, 986

6,697

461

1856..

3,860

17,053

143

181,420

50, 781

46, 278

375

1857..

2,237

112,347

57

97, 820

25,278

25,270

247

1858..

2,779

75, 923

76

106, 298

60, 379

41,921

441

I860..

2,427

63, 553

78

72, 810

41,301

30, 994

179

1861..

2,513

10,608

115

87, 320

2,021

41,210

64

1862..

1,732

40,154

64

67,336

8,031

27, 220

36

1863..

1,128

33,683

33

62, 926

6,026

16, 864

141

1864..

1,376

63, 601

17

61, 920

10, 336

7,120

402

MINERAL RESOURCES. — COAL.

The mineral resources of Greenland are at present little known. The exist-
ence of coal in Disco bay and in Parry islands we have already mentioned. It
is a fact of the greatest importance, but we have no data for deciding upon the
extent of the fields, or the nature of the combustible.

GEOLOGY.

A thorough exploration of the geology of Greenland would undoubtedly reveal
many valuable quarries or mines, as her general conformation seems to be such
as to give much promise. Her rocks are stated to be granite, gneiss, mica, and
hornblende slate, syenite, clay slate, and her sedimentary rocks are of the primary
formation, mostly of the coal period.

At present the only product of the earth that has any commercial importance —
one which is peculiar to the country ^ — ^is kryolite. It is found in veins or beds in
granite. One bed, 80 feet thick, is located at Irakaet,* on the south side of Ark-
sudfiord, in western Greenland. It is a crystalline mineral, varying ia color from
snow-white, when pure, to almost black when mixed with extraneous substances,
(probably graphite, as the coloring disappears when the mineral is heated ; see
Fogg. Annal.) Its chemical definition is a double fluorid of sodium and alum-
inium, corresponding to the formula Na. Fl., J AI2 FI3, or to the elementary com-
position: aluminium, 13.0; sodium, 32 8; fluorine, 54.2=100. It is at present
mined at the aforesaid locality by Mr. Taylor, of London, who has sunk a shaft
40 feet deep, and exports large quantities of it. In 1861, 30 ships were sent
from Greenland with kryolite, (Burat, 244.) It is to be found in the English,
French, and American markets, either in blocks or ground up in barrels. It
was first introduced into the Danish and English markets under the name of
" natural soda;" it was so called on account of the extreme facility with which
it was converted into soap.

The industrial uses of kryolite may be thus enumerated :

1. In the manufacture of soap.

2. In the manufacture of soda and the soda salts.

3. For the fabrication of fluorhydric acid.

4. As an ornamental stone.

5. For the manufacture of beautiful earthenware, colored at will, and almost
unbreakable. ■>

6. As a flux.

^ Except that some is found in Miask, Siberia, in small quantities.
8 Eriglok, (Pogg. Annal.)

"ViMMaiMiato

48

Tlie alkaline flaorides have been known hj cliemiets as valuable flaxes in
laboratory operations for some time. It has been thought that krjolite, which
we have already said is a doable flaoride of sodium and aluminium, might be
thus used for facilitating the fusion of ores and the separation of the valuable
metals. Colonel C. A. Stevens has applied this to industry, and will supply his
flax in quantities large enough, and at a price low enough, to allow its advan-
tageous employment in extensive metallurgical operations. The ** Stevens's
flux " has of late excited the attention not only of engineers but of the public
at large, and frequent statements and opinions appear in scientific and manufac-
turing journals, as well as in tbe daily papers. Extensive experiments have
been made witli care and skill with a view to determine its effects upon the dif-
ferent ores. It seems to have been established that certain ores, particularly
the pyritiferous gold ores, which have been rebellious to other methods of treat-
ment, can be successfully smelted by the use of this flux, and that a generous
percentage of metal can thus be extracted. It is hardly permissible to attempt
any positive appreciation on the economy of the use of kryolite in metallurgy,
for the present information is by no means sufficient ; but we can say, judging
from what has been published on the subject, that the kryolite trade is likely to
receive a new impetus, and that a more extensive market will be offered to this
already much-sought for mineral.

Kryolite is said to be consumed in larger quantities at the salt works of
Pittsburg than in all Europe together.

In 1866-'G7, 13 cargoes were brought to Philadelphia.

7. For the manufacture of aluminium and its alloys.

The last is a most important use.

Aluminium has been the object of numerous investigations made by dis-
tinguished chemists, and especially by W6hler, Henri St. Clair Deville, H.
Rob6, Bunsen, and Percy. They have shown that this new metal, so widely dis-
tributed in nature, forming, as it does, a component of all common clay, (clay
being a hydrated silicate of the oxide of aluminium, or of alumina, more or less
pure,) has an immense industrial value. We have within our nearest reach a
metal whose properties are most precious to us. Let us rapidly review these
properties.

Aluminium is of a fine white color and of fine lustre, resembling the purest
silver. It takes a beautiful polish with great ease, and this shine is not impaired
by exposure. It retains its color and beauty indefinitely ; it never rusts or tar-
nishes in the air, whether the air be moist or dry, nor in water at any heat. It
can be carried to an intense white heat before it oxidizes, and then the oxida-
tion is feeble. Unlike silver, it is not attacked or blackened by sulphureted
hydrogen. It does not dissolve in common sulphuric nor in nitric acid, unless
heated. In muriatic acid aluminium dissolves with great difficulty, unless it is
impure. The alkalies attack the metal more easily. Wine, vinegar, and com-
mon salt seem to have little or no effect upon it, much less than upon tin. It
can be considered as a metal of absolute harmlessnesfe for cooking, thus differ-
ing from copper and tin. (See Deville.) It is as malleable (when cold or h(jt)
as silver and gold, and can be forged with as much delicacy. It can be ham-
mered down to leaves as thin as those used for gilding or silvering. It is about
as tenacious a? silver, and its softness is about that of soft iron. It is easily
melted and easily moulded. It has an extreme sonority, which adapts it for
bells. Aluminium is the lightest of all the useful metals, its density being 2 66 ;
that is, it is about three times as light as zinc and four times as light as silver.
Supposing its price to be about that of silver, then an aluminium coin of the
convenient size of a 10-cent piece would be worth two cents nnd a half. In
fact as aluminium is now in France only a third the price of silver, (and its

49

valne is decreasing,) a coin of one cent in aluminium would have about the size
of an old silver piece of twelve and a half cents. For certain chemical and
philosophical instruments and apparatus this quality of lightness, combined with
unalterability by the common agents, is invaluable.

Aluminium forms with the other metals some valuable alloys. The one best
known as a popular article for jewelry and other wares is the aluminium bronze,
{bronze d^ aluminium,) It is an alloy composed of aluminium, I part; copper,
10 parts. This alloy is very hard and durable ; it can be rolled and worked
into extreme perfection ; is very ductile, and has the color and brilliancy of
gold. It does not rust or tarnish. Above all it has a tenacity comparable to
that of steel.

Aluminium is manufactured in France at different works, the industry having
been introduced by St. Clair Deville, and encouraged- by his Majesty the Em-
peror. It would be out of place here to give the history of the works or the
methods employed ; this is explained in the works of Deville and others. It suf-
fices to say that the reduction of the ore is connected with and dependent u^ou
the manufacture of sodium. Kryolite being a fluoride of sodium and aluminium,
if not the most important ore, is always an invaluable agent for the production
of the metal, so that by this new and increasing industry it has created for itself
a valuable market.

Aluminium, as manufactured at the French works, sells for about $15 per
kilogram, while aluminium bronze is not much dearer than fine copper. These
products are sent to Paris and to other great centres to be worked up into objects
of domestic use or of ornament.

Deville mentions, as some of the most advantageous uses of this valuable
metal, the following :

As a precious metal in jewelry, for watch-cases, mirrors, and all other articles where the
chief requisites are beauty, lustre, finish, and unalterability by rusting or tarnish ; also, for
spectacle-cases, opera and field-glass cases, coinage of small value, pendulum-rods, the
smallest weights, pieces in balances and other instruments of precision, and for anything
where great lightness is required ; also, for spoons, forks, and dinner service, for cooking
apparatus, &c., being unattacked by water, vinegar, salt, wine, and other organic matter.

We have entered somewhat at length into the qualities of aluminium, as they
are not popularly as well known here as they are in France, where the metal is
becoming commoner and more highly esteemed every day. As the Greenland
coast alone of all places supplies a valuable material for the easy manufacture
of aluminium, it will be seen that this mine will always have a great value.
What is more, it is more than probable that the present beds are not the only
ones to be found near by, and that new mines will soon be established.^

FUTURE.

In considering the future of Greenland, we cannot confine ourselves entirely to
materialistic considerations. Nations have other resources besides those which
figures can express to us by statistical tables. If a country has in it the meansN

(of develo ping man in aPV way> B hysically or mentally, it may be said to be/
rich tolMt extent; 'Ihe northern whale fisheries will always maintain their
importance; the seal-skin and walrus ivory trade will, in all probability,
increase as new hunting grounds in the far north are discovered, as new means

^ The above remarks upon aluminium and kryolite are based on a study of H. St. Clair
Deville*s lectures at the Sorbonne, 1865-*66, (manuscript notes,) his work '*De T Aluminium,"
Paris, 1859, Tissier's *' Guide pratique de la fabrication de TAluminium," Dana^s Mineralogy,
Percy^s Metallurgy, Bivot's Docimasie, and a host of reports, communications, &c., pub-
lished in various scientific periodicals by Wohler, H. St. Clair Deville, H. Rose, Buns^u,.
Charles N. A. Tissier, J. W. Tayler, C. Brunner, Salv^tat, Salm-Horstraen, Erdmann,
Heeren and Karmarsch, N. Debreeq, Mallet, Buff, H. Masson, Kobell, Boud^t, Schotter,
Hirzel, Degousse, Fabian, Christone, Sauerwein, Schwartz, J. Thomson, Scherer, A.
Strange, R. Wagner, Dullo, G. Hagemann, and others.

, 4 I G

50

of transport are opened, and as new markets demand a supply ; the mineral

wealth of the country, in kryolite and other ores, will make rapid strides with

further enterprise in extending the use of aluminium, and with demands for new

material in other hranches of metallurgy. But these are not all the riches of a

country like Greenland. She has a vast interior, which is perfectly unknown,

and a far north and west, which has only heen guessed at. Who can tell what

there is of material resource in those remote tracts ? In a part of them we have

every reason to believe that there is a warmer climate, a richer fauna, and a

more favorable aspect than in any of the known portions of the island. But,

even if we had no hope of finding there a place for settlement or new roads to

profit, there are still strong reasons why civilization should strive to reach and

explore them. They possess, as it were, the key to many problems of science,

/ and the answer to many questions which are at present discussed by geographers.

/ Certainly, new truths are as precious acquisitions as new mines or new fish-

I ing grounds, and a country which has supplied them has enriched the world as

\ much as one which sends us the means of indulging our tastes or satisfying our

Vappetites.

V EXPEDITIONS.

Osborne ^ thinks it a shame that the royal geographers of London have on
their maps 1,131,000 square miles of the globe's surface — ^a sheer blank— of
which they are utterly ignorant; a tract, says he, that may be "teeming with
life."

There is not only the, geographical question, but also problems in other
branches to be solved, so that all the world has an interest in the result of well-
organized Arctic explorations. '

We want to know the exact figure of the earth and the exact length of a
degree, not only on scientific grounds, but also as having a practical value to
navigators.*

We want to know, for similar reasons, the exact directions of the four cardinal
points, and the relative position of the terrestrial and celestial poles.*

We want investigations about the direction and intensity of the magnetic
furce.^ It will be remembered that the compass is useless in navigating the
Arctic seas.*

We want observations on ocean currents, on winds, on the temperatures of
air and sea, on the pressure of the atmosphere, on tides, and on the variations of
gravity.

We want investigation of the Arctic fauna and flora. Here, we have to regret
the loss of a large part of Kane's collection of natural history.

For all these observations, Hickson advocates a regular observatory at the
pole.

In another field of science, we want ethnological researches, especially on the
traces of ancient Icelandic navigators in Greenland.

Already, something has been done to advance our knowledge of the north
frigid zone, as will be seen by looking over the list of Arctic navigators in oar
appendix and in referring to Petermann's article. Kane made a series of obser-
vations 650 miles from the- pole; he showed the possibility of supporting life in
. extremes t cold ; he made some valuable geographical explorations, and claims
to have discovered the open Polar sea.*

Hayes, too, has made some most valuable advances in this department of
knowledge. He claims to have shown that the scurvy could be entirely avoided
by fresh meat, that Port Foulke is a proper base for an Arctic expedition, that

1 R. G. S,, xxxvi, p. 290. « Kaae, I, pp. 267 and 306; Hayes, Sm. R.,
3 Hick., p. 136. 1861, p. 151; Rink., R. G. S., xxvlii,

3 Hayes, Sm. R., 1861, p. 150. p. 272; Os., R. G. S., xxxvi, p. 288.

< McD., p. 98; Hayes, A. B. J., p. 108.

51

Smith's soand can be navigated with a strong vessel, and that the Polar sea
exists and can be visited.^ He also made many observations now in the hands
of the Smithsonian Institution.

Still, though much has been done, much more remains undone. The Polar
region is a vast field for enterprise, and it is for the interest of the whole world
that it should be explored thoroughly.

In regard to the ways and means of carrying on an Arctic expedition,
opinions diflPer widely.

Kane names as the inducements in favor of his scheme : ^

1. Terra firma as the basis of operations, obviating the capricious character
of ice-travel.

2. A due northern line, which, throwing aside the influences of terrestrial
radiation, would lead soonest to the open sea, should such exist.

3. The benefit of the fan-like abutment of the land, on the north face of
Greenland, to check tlie ice in the course of its southern or equatorial drift,
thus obviating the great drawback of Parry in his attempts to reach the pole
by the Spitzbergen sea.

4. Animal life to sustain travelling parties.

5. The co-operation of the Esquimaux.

On the other hand, Petermann has always advocated, as he advocates in the
article which we have translated and abridged in our appendix, an expedition by
the sea between Spitzbergen and the pole.

Osborne believes* in Greenland as the right way to the pole. He advocates ^
a government expedition by the English navy, so that its fine organization and
regularity added to every facility for fitting out and choosing vessels may con-
tribute towards an ultimate success.

Hicksou * suggests the transportation of convicts to the north to maintain
stations in the Arctic seas. The discovery of coal-strata in the Parry islands
has solved the difficulty of a want of fuel. The work of excavation would be
made easy ; there would be coaling stations for steamships, and Polar expeditions
would become as natural and as easily carried on as any others.

Whatever be the method chosen, let expeditions be made.

The United States has inaugurated a brilliant line of inviestigation by Kane's
and Hayes's expeditions. Let us hope, for her own honor and for the fame of
American navigators, that what she has so gloriously begun will be followed
up. If national glory has any meaning in the present state of civilization, it
can be gained in no nobler way than by such achievements.

CONCLUSION. — ADVANTAGES OP A COLONY.

We hope, in conclusion, that it is not out of place to quote the following
remark from Porter's Progress of the Nation.* It may have a bearing upon
the question of Iceland and Greenland :

The negative advantages offered to a state by the possession of its colonies consist in this,
that their power and resources cannot be rendered available against it. This will be fallj
understood if we reflect upon the consequences that might result to England from the acqui-
sition by the United States of America of the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

We omit what specially bears on these countries as having no particular appli-
cation to our subject.

It can hardly be said that England has hitherto drawn any positive advantages from the
possession of these provinces, if we place out of view the convenience afforded during

Seriods of war by the harbor of Halifax ; but the negative advantages from them are evi-
ent, if we consider that the United States of America are gpreatly deScient in good harbors
on the Atlantic coast, while Nova Scotia possesses, &c. « « # #^ *

I — mm

1 Kane, I, pp. 17, 18. * Hickson, note, p. 139.

3 R. G. S., xxxvi, p. 288. * Porter's Progress of the Nation, page 727.

3R. G. S., xxxvi, p. 279.

52

In the nnhappj eyent of a war breaking out between the two countries, the possession of
these harbors by America would furnish her with means of annoyance to our commerce from
nitional vessels and privateers, the magnitude of which is hardly calculable.

We have no need of pointing out the applicability of the same remarks to
Icelandic sulphur and Iceland's harbors, nor to an ocean telegraph, via Iceland*
were it established.

An absiract of a translation of the paper called Das Nordlicbste Land der

Erde, iy Dr. Augustus Petermann, April, 1867.

THE ARCTIC REGIONS.

The appearance at last of Dr. Hayes's woi:k concerning the Arctic expedition
in the years I860 and 1861, imposes upon us the duty not only of giving an account
of this undertaking, but also of taking a nearer view of the geography of the
regions in the far north. Till the discoveries of the two American expeditions
under Kane and Hayes, Ross island was the northernmost land known ; it lies
in latitude 80^ 48' north. Parry in 1827 went two degrees further north, to
82^ 45', but discovered no land. Kane in 1854 followed the Greenland coast,
reached latitude 80^ 50^ and sighted Grinnell land to 82^ 10' north. Hayes
extended his fearful sledge journey to 81^ 35' of north latitude, und estimated
the visible extent to 82^ 30^. Hence if the Americans have not succeeded in
reaching Parry's point in the Spitzbergen sea, yet they have gone beyond
all the English explorers on the American side, and have shown that that *' Mon-
roe doctrine " which allows European powers no share in American questions
holds good for geographical science. The question of how far North America
extends belongs to them, and we hope that self-sacrificing men, inspired for its
solution, like Kane and Hayes, will have successors in the future.

The discoveries of these explorers are insignificant in extent^ but they are
of the highest importance to the science of geography, and cannot help being
glorious, as full of boldness and perseverance. The names of Hayes and Kane
must be counted among those of the greatest heroes. Indeed their contempo-
raries have already given an opinion, as Kane's book has excited more general
interest than any other work on the Polar regions. But the precise results of
Kane's expedition have been not at all or only deficiently understood, because
the general reader does not care to make his comprehension of localities clear
and definite.

The first requisite for this comprehension is a first-rate chart. But hitherto
all have been faulty, the very best not being good. Kane's map, for example,
is wanting in accuracy, in clearness even in names, especially near the import-
ant regions about Rensselaer harbor. We are thus in a continual state of doubt
exactly where the explorers have been, even in Inglefield's map, the best that
there is. Of course a just history of Arctic discoveries is impossible till an
accurate geography has been established. It is one of the objects of the pres-
ent paper to obtain an approximation to a good map by a comparison of the
several accounts of Baffin and Bylot, Ross and Inglefield, Kane and Hayes.
A detailed map of real worth is impossible till the elements of Hayes's obser-
vations, which have been given to the Smithsonian Institute, are made public.

HISTORY OP DISCOVERIES AND SURVEYS.

Our remarks (as well as the maps) are confined to the northernmost part of
Baffin's bay and its coasts, beyond Melville bay and Lancaster sound ; that is
about 75^ of north latitude.

In 1616, when Shakespeare was still alive, Bylot and Baffin, English seamen.

53

sailed np into these high latitades. In 1615 thej had striven in vain to effect a
northwestern passage through Hadson's straits. In 1616 their plan was to
pass through Davis straits, coast along Greenland, steer southwesterly to 60^
north latitude, and finally to reach Japan. Their vessel, the Discovery, was a
small one of only 55 tons burden, with a crew of but 17 in all. They left
Q-ravesend March 26, 1616, and on the Ist of July reached in the open sea the
latitude 76^ 35' north. A little further (12 leagues) they discovered Wosten-
holme sound, together with the island of the same name. Baffin anchored here,
but was compelled to take to the high sea again, on account of the strong cur-
rent. This sound is described as full of bays and inlets. On the glorious
fourth of July, 1616, they discovered Whale sound, latitude 77^ 30' north, so
called on account of the vast number of whales which were seen there. They
anchored their ship in a small bay, but were driven again to the sea by a violent
storm. On July 5, they passed Hakluyt island, between Whale sound and
another large sound which stretches north, called Sir Thomas Smith's sound.
The ice had meanwhile placed barriers in the way of the ship and caused it to
keep its course again more to the south. July 8, the Carey islands were passed,
and July 10, Alderman Jones's sound was discovered ; a boat was here put out,
but stormy weather prevented the intended landing ; they followed the coasts
stretching to the south, which showed another curving, and on July 12 they
discovered Sir James Lancaster sound On August 30, the expedition retui;ped
to the English coasts. As Baffin did not find the hoped-for passage northwest,
and as the bay ceased to be visited for a long time, the discoveries of this expe-
dition were much questioned till the labors of Sir John Boss confirmed them.

Commander John Ross sailed to the Arctic regions with two ships, the Isa-
bella and the Alexander, of 385 and 252 tons and 57 and 37 men ; the Alexan-
der under the command of Lieutenant W. E. Parry, the great Arctic discoverer
of those times. This great expedition, which left the Thames in April, 1818,
and returned in November, is especially important, because it opened the long
series of Arctic explorations which has characterized our century. It gave us
also a valuable survey of the whole of Baffin's bay and Davis's straits, as well
as many interesting observations. If the government and geographers of Eng
land were not entirely satisfied with the results of the expedition, they were* in
fact right, if they supposed that Ross had been wanting in boldness. He did
not explore any of the sounds he discovered, because ice navigation at that time
was full of dangers and uncertainties. Ross was certainly not a Baffin, remain-
ing as he did with his strong and excellent ship below the most northern point
which Baffin had reached with his small cutter. He certainly injured his fame
not only by keeping away from the sounds and inlets, but by describing them
and mapping them down as closed creeks. In general the results of the expedi-
tion are especially interesting, as bringing the fir'"»t news of that most northerly
race of Esquimaux who inhabited Hayes's peninsula, and as recording observa-
tions, not attempted since, on the depth of the sea. Ross, a native of Scotland,
named the country between Melville bay and Whale sound Arctic Highlands.

The next expedition is that of Commander Inglefield, in 1852. Those under
Saunders, Austin, and Ommanney do not come under our consideration.

Inglefield's expedition in his small vessel, with brilliant results, reminds one
of the bold voyage of the old Bylot with his smart pilot, Baffin. The object of
the voyage was to carry provisions to Franklin's squadron, and to examine the
northernmost sound of Baffin's bay and its whole western coast for traces of
this party. All this was effected in the short space of four months, the ship
sailing on the 4th of July and returning on the 10th of November.* The vessel
was a small screw steamer of 149 tons, with a 16 horse power engine, which,
however, was of little use. The party consisted of 17 men all told. On the
20th of August, Inglefield reached Cape York, landed on the 2 Ist at the Esqui-
maux settlement at Petowack Glacier, on the 23d reached North Star bay,

54

and on the 27th Smith's sound, in latitude 78^ 28^ 21'\ where an entirely open
sea, almost void of ice, lay before him ; a violent storm and the advanced season,
however, made it seem advisable to him to turn southward. On September 1
he sailed far into Jones's sound, to 84^ 10', and on the 2d of the month he turned
to Lancaster sound. Inglefield was a very able, cultivated, and energetic officer,
and during the two weeks that he spent in this region he made some valuable
observations and surveys. With the uninterrupted daylight of the Arctic
summer, he allowed himself but little sleep, and worked almost continually on
deck with the sextant. Although these observations have the value of a running
survey only, yet Inglefield 's successors, Kane and Hayes, repeatedly bear wit-
ness to their general accuracy. The west coast, between Smith's and Jones's
sounds, could be less exactly fixed, as the vessel had to contend with adverse
winds, storms, and ice; and here Hayes's chart gives a quite different delineation.
Inglefield first pointed out the fact that these sounds were broad sea-roads, and
that Whale sound was at least a great iiilet, all of which were, at times, free
from ice. Besides topographical surveys, they made also meteorological, botani-
cal, zoological, and geological investigations of paramount value, so that their
unpretending work is one of the most important in the department of Arctic
literature. At the side of Inglefield stands Dr. P. G. Sutherland, one of the most
scientific men who have visited the Arctic world on the American side. Ingle-
field's enticing description of his entrance into Smith's sound, with the open water
free from ice and extending without limit to the north, did not remain without
effect on his contemporaries. His expedition, prolific in result, was also rich in
promise, and excited many navigators to enterprising voyages, and especially
gave rise to one of the most remarkable Polar expeditions known — that of Dr.
!E. K. Kane.

From the moment of Captain Inglefield's return, we had the idea that Smith's
sound might be connected with the great Polar basin upon Spitibergen, Siberia,
and attempted to show that the portion of the sea which stood in connection with
it could be but of small extent, and not the broad Polar sea.^ The hopes of
making great discoveries were doubtful, wherefore a greater obligation is due to
Kane and Hayes, who, in spite of all difficulties, extended our geographical
knowledge in this direction.

Kane's expedition left New York in the brig Advance, of 146 tone, and with
a crew of eighteen men, on the 30th of May, 1853. It returned there after
unspeakable privations and sufferings, (leaving behind them their ship and three
men who had died, and also a scientific collection,) on October 11, 1855.

The vessel reached Cape York on the 4th of August, 1853, Smith's sound on
August 6, when immense masses of ice offered invincible barriers to any extended
progress. With the utmost exertion, and in the midst of great danger, Kane
advanced about eight German miles in fourteen days. He arrived at Rensselaer
bay, where he was fated to be imprisoned by the ice for three-quarters of a year.
This spot has become famous by the two winters that Kane and his party spent
there It is the coldest spot ever inhabited by Europeans for so long a period,
and their abode there forms a drama which not only intensely excites general
interest, but is a high triumph of human energy in the conflict with the horrors
of a frigid climate.

From his winterquarters Kane arranged various sledge journeys, consisting *
of parts of his men, to push further north on the ice. The most important of
these expeditions were those conducted by Dr. Hayes in May and by Morton in
June. In the former the coasts of Grinnell land to 80^ north latitude were visited,
and in the latter the Greenland coast to 80° 50' north latitude was surveyed,
Kennedy channel discovered, and the western coast, as far north as latitude
82° 10^ was sighted and mapped down. Morton's supposed discovery of a

^ A. Petermann. London Athenseum, 11th Dec, 1852, p. 1359.

55

Polar sea, upon which so much weight Has been laid, we opposed, in accordance
with the views of tnglefield, and the later discoveries of Hayes only confirm
our opinion. While the expeditions of Baffin, Ross, and Inglefield consisted
of short summer passages, that of Kane is the first in which Europeans lived
through the winter in these high latitudes, and could thus observe all the phe-
nomena of nature there. As to the surveys of Kane's expedition, they do not
come up to the expectations which we might form of them, either in extent or
exactness. Not that the observations were not earnestly and faithfully carried
on, but the mode of travelling and of making investigations on sledges offered
immense difficulties, and the explorers might well feel happy that they came
back with their lives. The part most accurately surveyed is that near Rens-
selaer bay, the more northerly parts being very uncertain. Thus, Kennedy,
channel is really 20 miles further south than Kune puts it. The following
results are those which are the most valid :

West longitude
from Greenwich.

Rensselaer harbor ,
Cape Alexander. .
Littleton island...

Fo^ island

Bedevilled reach..

Marshall bay

Cape Wood

Cach6 inlet

Cape Jackson

Cape Madison

Cape Jefferson

Cape Prescott

CapeFrazer

70
74
74
73
72
68
68
65
66
66
67
72
71

52
20
10
50
55
54
20
30
52
52
52
56
30

45

We shall see further on how these results are modified by Hayes's observa-
tions.

All the charts and maps of the Kane expedition are miserably executed;
the best is by Schott, but the most perfect are insufficient. The nomenclature
does not agree with that of the text, and the topography is incorrectly deline-
ated.

Dr. Hayes with his party left Boston July 6, 1860, and* returned in the mid-
dle of October, 1861. The* ship was the schooner " United States,** of 133
tons, the crew in all numbered 18 men. Cape York was reached on the 25th
of August, and the entrance to Smith's sound by Cape Alexander on the 26th of
August ; there the same difficulties opposed this expedition as opposed that of
Kane seven years before : they were assailed by violent storms and obstructed
by ice masses. Hayes sailed only as far as latitude 78^ 30^, which is about the
same as the northing of Inglefield's voyage. He was obliged to make winter-
quarters in a harbor named Port Foulke, (latitude 78^ 17' 30'',) until July 14,
1861.

Two important excursions were made by the expedition, both under Dr.
Hayes's personal guidance; one on foot in October, 1860, upon the huge Gla-
ciers about 18 German miles wide in the interior of Greenland ; the other with
sledges and dogs in April and May upon the hard frozen sea to 81^ 35' of north
latitude. With all his exertion Hayes could only eflfect the confirmation of
Kane's discoveries.

Long before Hayes's departure we earnestly protested against the assumptions
and hypotheses on which he based his success, and we declared that the way

56

proposed by him to reach the north pole was the most unfavorable of all the
ways thought of. Our predictions have been confirmed by this expedition.
The learned world in America are to blame for thus persisting in unten-
able views. Hayes's results, although exceedingly small in respect to the
appointed end — ^the reaching of the pole — deserve the greater acknowledgment
because they were obtained under so much greater difficulties We under-
stand from private letters that Dr. Hayes has made comparatively comprehen-
sive surveys and measurements which greatly modify the details of former
charts. These labors are in the hands of the Smithsonian Institution, to whom
we must look for an early publication. The most interesting is the new descrip-
tion of the coasts of Grinnell land. So far as these have been reconnoitred by
Dr. Hayes in May, 1854, they obtain a more northerly point; so far as they
were seen by Morton they remain substantially the same,* but are more indented
in their character. Smith's sound and its surroundings are with Hayes essentially
different from all other surveys. The whole western coast between Smith's sound
and Jones's sound goes further to the east, and assumes quite a different foi*m.
Hayes's observations were made under more favorable circumstances than those
of Inglefield ; and so, too, in Whale sound, what Inglefield marked as islands
Hayes found, in two instances, to be capes. Hayes gives names to some of his own
discoveries as well as to localities before known. One sound he names after his
ship, and the great basin of the north he names, very properly, " Kane Basin."
We suggest, as a good name for that point of land, the sputhern part of which
was called by Ross, Arctic highlands, but which has no general name, the term
" Hayes's Peninsula," after the man to whom geography owes the most about
Arctic regions, he being the only explorer who has reconnoitred the far interior.
It is the privilege of discoverers to name the countries they find, but is espe-
cially their right when they have undergone so many hardships as those which
Kane and Hayes endured. It is therefore absolutely necessary that the faithful
map-maker should preserve the names and define their exact extent.

GROUND-RELIEF. — HEIGHT AND DEPTH OF LAND AND SEA.

The whole of this northern territory, like that of southern Greenland, is
deeply indented. The coast is precipitous, the land rising to the height of 300
to 1,500 feet above the sea. A hill range follows this steep coast more or less
parallel in direction. The Prince of Wales mountain is, according to Inglefield,
2,000 feet high. The most interesting and valuable information in regard
to the height of the land is given by Dr. Hayes, who made a tour into the
interior. He gives 5,000 feet as the highest point reached by him.

Concerning the depth of the sea, we know just^ as little, and this little we
owe to the expedition of Ross, the only one which seems to have taken sound-
ings. From this we learn that the steep coast has an under-sea continuation,
and the northern land of Baffin's bay a flat bottom. Everywhere close by
the coast considerable depths were found — 100 or 200 fathoms, which do not
increase toward the middle of Baffin's bay. Inglefield also tells of a sounding
made by him, which gave not less than 145 fathoms. It was close by Cape
Alexander, a half a mile from the shore. The greatest depth found by Ross
was 455 fathoms in Melville bay. In general, the greatest depths were on the
eastern shores, those of Greenland.

THE CURRENTS. — THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE CLIMATE, THE FLORA, THE FAUNA,

AND HUMAN EXISTENCE.

The geography and hydrography of the Artie seas are yet waiting for their
laborers. At present the currents in Baffin's bay are very imperfectly known,
even in regard to the more important and sharply impressed currents. ' Once it
was assumed that a broad and mighty stream of cold water passes through the

57

whole bay from north to south, and that a contrary current, likewise of cold
water, flowed in around the south cape of Greenland, passes up the western side of
that island as far as Disco bay, and then ceased. This is not the case. It has
been shown that this contrary current is not a cold stream, but a branch of the
warm Gulf Stream. . This, indeed, was shown by the chart of the Grinnell expe-
dition, which gives two currents — one colder, running from Lancaster sound along
the west coast to the south ; the other warmer, flowing into Baffin's bay from 50^
north latitude and taking its course on the eastern shores of the bay into Mel-
ville bay. The line of this latter stream has become, with the ship's sailing to
'Lancaster sound, the accustomed sailing course. They follow the western coast
of Greenland till they reach Wilcox Point, keep from there diagonally through
Melville bay to Cape York, follow the 76th parallel of latitude to the west, and
strike from the middle of Baffin's bay by degrees into a southwesterly direction.
This great circuit, several degrees north of the point arrived at, is taken because
they can calculate on finding there an open sea, or at any rate a navigable pas-
sage amid the floating ice. This current does not stop at Melville bay, but
finding an opposition to the north, (Hayes's peninsula,) it sweeps aside in a west-
erly direction, crowds back all the icebergs from the northwest and southwest,
and thus creates an open and navigable sea — the North Water of the whalers.
At this point the stream divides; a part returning southward, is swallowed up
by the cold streams from Smith's, Jones's, and Lancaster sounds ; a part distinctly
pursues its course along the coast of Greenland till the northern outlet of Smith's
sound. Even Tnglefield, the first sailor of these seas, indicates a strong current
which he had followed and observed from Cape York to Cape Hatherton ; at
the entrance of the sound the current had a rapidity of 72 nautical miles in 24
hours. This became an established certainty by the investigations of Kane
and Hayes. To be sure their log-books are not published, nor are there any
direct observations on the current, but they relate to things which contain more
certain indications of the ocean streams than single direct observations could
have. As Inglefield showed, so they prove, that in the navigable water of this
warm current in Melville bay they can always go with ease and rapidity into
Smith's sound . The whole eastern half of these waters is found navigable always ,
As to the western shores the case is diflPerent ; there we find a current from north
to south, and a heaping up of drift ice is almost always encountered.

The influence of the warm current is most clearly perceived in Smith's sound
itself, in which to the most northerly point the sea is always open and navigable ;
from that point northward heavy ice-masses are met with, which, at least during
the three years of Kane's and Hayes's abode, were so heaped up and solid as to
allow of sledge journeys in all directions. The ice limit of Smith's sound ia con-
ditioned entirely by the two currents that meet there.

Not merely in summer does this branch of the Gulf Stream remain open and
navigable, but also through the winter, however severe it may be, and however
massive may be the ice streaming out from the various bays and glaciers. This
is certainly, the case in the comparatively narrow Smith's sound, where, during a
long winter, the sea remained open. The temperature sank below the freezing
point of mercury, but the sea remained in the sound unfrozen. Esquimaux are
to be found only near the sea, for their existence depends on the. walrus, and
hence open water.

The effects of the warm stream are most wonderful. Above all it renders
human existence possible upon Hayes's peninsula. In the whole archipelago of
Parry islands, and in general north of Lancaster sound, no men live. In west-
ern Greenland settlements cease at .73^ north latitude ; above that come the
immense uninhabitMble glaciers, where the Esquimaux do not even hunt, so full
of ice is the sea, and so desolate the frozen tracts ; but where the coast bends
round to the west and receives the fuU influence of the warm stream, there at
once human beings appear again. There we find that Esquimaux race of Boss,

58

the "Arctic Highlanders/' a strong, hardy race, who conquer the colossal polar
bear with their very imperfect weapons, and get the mastery of the quite as
powerful and dangerous walrus. Kane found permanent settlements of these
Esquimaux as far as Etah, where the warm stream must undeniably maintain
its ascendency.

The opposite influences of the two* currents can be shown in no better way
than by comparing the winter of Kane in Rensselaer bay, where the cold stream
prevails, to that of Hayes in Port Foulke, where the warm stream predominates.
We regret exceedingly that Hayes's detailed observations on the climate have
not been published, so that we could compare by definite figures what is at pres- .
ent proved by all the natural phenomena dependent on climate. During the two
years of Kane's abode in the sea named after him, the basin being more than
double the width of Smith's sound, the ice never broke up ; while at Port Foulke
not the slightest quantity of solid ice formed, and, at most, bound together the
innermost points of small bays. The Esquimaux, indeed, hunt on the coasts of
Kane basin, but never remain there permanently. In opposition to this frozen
sea, they call the waters between Smith's sounds Whale sound, and Carey islands,
Utlak-soak ; that is, cooking-basin, water-kettle. Thus, in the centre of this
sea the best developed vegetation is found ; here there is always a prodigious
amount of sea- animals, and here is the last place of refuge for the whole
tribe of natives, when in all other places the hunting is less abundant. On
account of the vast numbers of whales here, Baffin and Bylot called it Whale
sound ; Inglefield saw it swarming with sea-animals. Northumberland island
is spoken of by Kane as rich with vegetation, and fuU of flocks of birds ; and
Hayes describes the green meadows there as a paradise, the most luxuriant oasis
that he saw north of the Danish settlements of South Greenland ; and he adds
that the sea was filled with immense swarms of whales and walrus, the air with
mynads of butterflies. The difference between Kane's and Hayes's winter-
quarters was only nine German miles, but the difference in the temperature,
animal life, and flora is so great that Kane's expedition would have starved,
had it not been for supplies from Etah, the Esquimaux settlement near Port
Foulke. The hunting at Rensselaer bay was very insignificant, but at Port
Foulke there were great herds of reiudeer during the whole winter, and over
200 were killed by Hayes's party. There was thus an excellent supply of fresh
meat. There were also hares, foxes, seals, eider ducks, and other birds. The
chief winter food of the Esquimaux is the walrus, of which there is a plenty in
the open sea near Port Foulke.

For Dr. Kane, who had to struggle so hard with ice and cold in Rensselaer
bay, the open sea in Smith's sound was always an inexplicable enigma. He did
not think of the currents and their effects, and does not appear to have made
any temperature observations on ^is southward trips. Hayes often speaks, of
the mild temperatures at Port Foulke with the low temperatures elsewhere.
Thus, at the end of November, 1860, the mercury rose to + 32° Fahrenheit, and
it rained at the time, which Hayes had never observed in Rensselaer bay, except
in the middle of summer. March 16, 1861, the temperature at Carin Point
was — 68 JO Fahrenheit, and at Port Foulke, at the same time, only — 27^ Fah-
renheit, consequently 41Jo warmer.

THB ORUBNLAND REGIONS IN THEIR RELATION TO A NORTH POLE EXPEDITION.

For the more extended exploration of the Arctic regions, and especially for
discoveries near the pole, we have always recommended the North European
sea, and not Baffin's bay. Our later studies have confirmed our opinion.

Parry, in 1827, reached, in the Spitzbergen sea, the point latitude 82^ 4a'
north, with sledges, and insisted that a ship could have reached the same lati-
tude without encountering ice. We have just seen that ships can practically

59

f

reach only 78^ 30^ of latitude in Baffiu^s bay. The immense hardships of Kane,
in forcing his vessel a distance of seven Germsm miles in fourteen days through
a narrow passage to Rensselaer bay, and his subsequent experience there, show
that navigation above the northern outlet of Smith's sound is impossible. Now,
this Kane basin is shown to be an immense receiver for all the cold streams. A
stream in Kennedy channel, southwards, brings in supplies of ice ; a second
comes from the west through the United States sound, with another pack ; a
third ice-supply comes from the great Humboldt glacier on the east ; and then
there is a good deal of drift-ice from Baffin's bay. Thus, from four sides the
ice comes in, is melted a little, freezes again, and becomes an enormous pack of
firm, solid, immensely thick surface-ice. And what sort of ice 1 Not smooth
ice, adapted for sledging, but driven together in most rugged ways, forming a
magnificent scenery of ice-blocks as high as houses. No wonder that even a
Kane and a Hayes could not effect much with their sledges, whea the character
of the ice and the traversing it is so graphically described by Dodge, Hayes's
pilot : " You might as well try to cross the city of New York over the house-
tops." However experienced was Hayes in sledging, however great his endur-
ance, his energy, and his resolution, he was not less than thirty-one days in
going seventeen miles. He estimated that the windings necessary to avoid the
masses of ice would make the distance 125 German miles.

A ship expedition in this direction is impossible, but that alone can give satis-
factory and accurate results. The surveys of sledge expeditions are necessarily
unsatisfactory. The whole attention must be given to getting ahead and pre-
serving life, so that any connected observations are impossible.

We rejoice that the expedition of Hayes has satisfactorily shown the absurdity
of sledge expeditions. It has had the negative advantage of being a warning
against similar attempts.

THE OPEN POLAR SEA OF MORTON AND HAYES.

Kennedy channel was seen by Morton in June, 1854, open and free from ice,
and it was supposed to be connected with the Polar sea. Hayes reached the
western side of the channel by more than half a degree of latitude further
north than Morton, and hence his views concerning this contested question are
of especial interest. He found by no means an open, still less an ice-free sea,
. but the channel was completely covered with ice. As he advanced to the north,
however, this ice had a more and more friable appearance, and was apparently
about breaking up. He reached his most northerly point May 18, Morton his
June 25. Hence we may be justified in supposing that between the middle of
May and the middle of June, the ice breaks up and the sea would be quite open.
But this is a mere supposition, and there are certainly strong reasons for our
disbelieving that Kennedy channel is connect^ with the Polar sea. Our prin-
cipal reason was and is, tde total absence of driftwood in all the waters north of
Smith's sound hitherto investigated, whilst everywhere in the department of that
central Polar basin immense masses of it are found. Morton's statements con-
cerning a richer animal fauna in the open arm of the sea, visited by him, can
decide nothing, since animal life is always found wherever there is open water,
even by the chinks in the ice. Hayes by no means confirms these stories of
Morton, for he speaks of the vegetation as exceedingly scanty and mean.
Neither does he bring forward any new or tenable grounds from which we could
justly infer the existence of a larger open sea area It is not logic, to say
nothing more, to believe that that great surface must be exclusively sea because
it is unknown. It is certain that of the whole of northern Greenland and Grinuell
land, to the latitude of Upernavik, Hayes's peninsula, blessed and enlivened by
the warm south stream, is the richest part in animal and vegetable life, and
thence it follows that only here have the Esquimaux made stations, while once
Grinnell land was inhabited by them, as Hayes has shown. The Esquimaux are

60

a sbiftless people, living as they do from hand to month, without laying np pro-
yision for the fnture. Indeed, the Esquimaux would die out even in Germany,
as they would find no nourishment in winter, (without laying it up during the
summer, ) as they certainly do find food in the seas of these regions.

We also assume that Kennedy channel widens northwards a little, but is
soon closed by land which lies between it and the north pole. Upon the northern
coast of Siberia the north winds in winter bring mild weather and mists, because
it comes from what the Russians, referring in some way to a Polar sea, call
Polynya. Wrangel observed that the northwest winds, as well as some north-
east winds, always brought with them a thick, moist fog, so that the clothes and
tent were wet through. This must have been the case, and been so observed at
Rensselaer harbor, if, at the north of it, or of Kennedy channel, there was an open
sea, or a Polynya ; and this so much the more because here there was a regular
observatory, in which meteorological observations were made every hour for 20
months. But, on the contrary, it appears that where Kane, Morton, Hayes, and
their followers believed there was an open sea, the coldest winds originated, as
well as the clearest weather. . Kane mentions this especially. Moist, warm
winds were observed at Rensselaer bay, and considered very remarkable ; but
they never came from the north, but always from the southeast. This fact is
significant, as tending to disprove the existence of the supposed open water of
Kane and Hayes, and as adding a new proof to the prevailing arm of the Gulf
Stream in Baffin's bay. It suggests, too, the importance of referring to all the
physical elements in the discussion of geographical questions.

In vain we have pointed out for years how necessary, for the solution of the
great contested question as to the nature of the central Arctic regions, is one
wintering with meteorological observations on the north shore of Siberia.
Although there are many who take an interest in the solution of geographical
questions, especially of those relating to the polar regions, and many who would
gladly sacrifice everything to be instrumental to those solutions, yet our preach-
ing has hitherto fallen upon deaf ears. For us the culmination of the preceding
paper is this : if a very small arm of the warm Gulf Stream, working in Baffin's
bay beside a powerful cold current, should produce such mighty e£Fects, what
must be those of the broad, powerful current in its wider course northeast-
wards, filling the whole space between Spitzbergen and north Europe ? Con-
cerning the ice formation in polar regions the experienced Dr. Hayes remarks,
(" Open Polar Sea," page 361 ;)

With the warm flood of the Galf Stream pouring northward, and keeping the waters of
the Polar sea at a temperature above the freezing point, while the winds, blowing as con-
stantly under the Arctic as under the tropip skj, and the ceaseless currents of the sea and
the tide-flow of the surface keep the waters ever in movement, it is not possible, as I have
before observed, that even any considerable portion of this extensive sea can be frozen over.
At no point within the Arctic circle h&s there been found an ice-belt extending, either in
winter or in summer, more than fifty to a hundred miles from land. And even in the nar-
row channels separating the islands of the Parry archipelago, in Baffin^s bay, in the north
water, and the mouth of Smithes sound, everywhere, water will not freeze except when
sheltered by the land, or when an ice-pack, accumulated by a long continuance of winds
from one quarter, affords the same protection. That the sea does not close except when at
rest I had abundant reason to know during the late winter; for, at all times, as the narra-
tive frequently records, even when the* temperature of the air was below the freezing point
of mercury, I could hear from the deck of the schooner the roar of the beating waves.

The second part of Petermann's article is merely an abstract of Hayes's ** The
Open Polar Sea."

List of the authorities consulted in the compilation of the preceding pages.

The abbreviated forms of citation are given in parentheses :

(Mck.) Travels in the island of Iceland during the summer of the year 18 JO. By Sir j
George Steuart Mackenzie, baronet, president of the Physical Class of the Royal Society ; "
vice-president of the Astronomical Institution of Edinburgh, &c., &c., &c. Second edition ;
4to. Edinburffh. 1812.

(Hend.) Iceland, or the Journal of a Residence in that island during the years 1814 and \^
1815. By Ebenezer Henderson, doctor in philosophy, member of the Royal Society of Gotten- '^
burgh, honorary member of the Literary Society of Frehnen, and corresponding member oif
the Scandinavian Literary Society at Copenhagen. Second edition ; 8vo. Edinburgh. 1819.

(Dillon.) A Winter in Iceland and Lapland. By the Hon. Arthur Dillon. In two vol-
umes; 12mo. Vol. 1. London. 1840.

(Miles.) Nordhufari, or Rambles in Iceland. By Pliny Miles. 12mo. New York. 1854.

(Dujfferin.) Letters from High Latitudes, a Yacht voyage to Iceland, Jan Mayen, and Spitz-
bergen, in 1856, By Lord Dufferin, (Frederick Temple Blafikwood.) 12mo. Boston. 1859.

(Forbes.) Iceland; its Volcanoes, Geysers, and Glaciers. By Charles S. Forbes, com-
mander Royal Navy. London. I860.

(Ox.) The Oxonian in Iceland, or Notes on Travel in that island in the summer of 1860.
By Rev. Frederick Metcalfe, A. M. 12mo. London. 1861.

(Holland.) Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers; being excursions by members of the Alpine
Club. Second series. Edited by Edward Shirley Kennedy, M. A., F. R. G. S. In two
volumes. Vol.1. London. 1862. Chapter 1. A Tour in Iceland in the summer of 1861.
By E. T. Holland, A. M.

(Petermann. ) Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt ftber wichtige neue
Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographic, von Dr. A. Petermann Gotha.
Justus Perthes. Various numbers.

(Encyc.) The Encyclopcedia Britannica, or Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General
Literature. Eighth edition ; 4to. Edinburgh. 1856.

(Somerville.) Physical Greography. By Mary Somerville. Second edition. 12mo. Phila-
delphia. 1850.

(Bayard Taylor.) Cyclopcedi a of Modem Travel. By Bayard Taylor. 1856.

(Porter.) The Progress of the Nation. By G, R. Porter, esq., F. R. S., Instit. of Natural
Science. Paris correspondence. London. 1851.

(Murray. ) A Hand-Dook for Travellers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. With
Maps and Plans. London. John Murray. 1858.

(G., i.) Voyage en Islande et au Greenland ex6cut6 pendant les ann^es 1855 et 1856 %\xx la
corvette La Recherche, command^e par M. Tr^houart, lieutenant de vaisseau, dans le but de
d^couvrir les traces de la Lilloise. Public par ordre du Roi, sous la direction de M. Paul
Gaimard, President de la Commission scientinque d'Islande et de Greenland. 8 vols. ; 8vo. —
His toire de Voyage, par M. Paul Gaimard. Tome premier; 8vo. Paris. 1838.

(G.,ii.) The same. Histoire de Voyage. Par M. Eugene Robert. 8vo. Paris. 1850.

(G. Jour.) Ibid. Journal de Voyage. Par M. Eugene Mequet. 8vo. Paris. 1852.

(G. Med.) Ibid. Zoologie et M^decine. Par "M. Eugene Robert. 8vo. Paris. 1851.

(G. Min.) Ibid. - Min^ralogie et Geologic. Par M. Eugene Robert. 8vo. Paris. 1840.

(G. Phys.) Ibid. Physique. Par M. Victor Lot tin. 8vo. Paris. 1838.

(G. Hist.) Ibid. Histoire d'Islande. Par M. Xavier Marmier. 8vo. Paris. 1840.

(G. Lit. ) Ibid. Litt^rature Islandaise. Par M. Xavier Marmier. 8vo. Paris. 1843.

(V. Tr.) General Collection of Voyages and Travels. By John Pinkerton. 4to. Phila-
delphia. 1810. Vol. 1 ; pp. 621-734. Letters on Iceland, containing observations on the
civil, literary, ecclesiastical, and natural history ; antiquities, volcanoes,- basaltes, hot springs ;
customs, dress, manners of the inhabitants, &c., &c., made during a voyagiB undertaken in
the year J 772. By Joseph Banks, esq., F. R. S., assisted by Dr. bolander, F. R. S., Dr. J.
Lind, F. R. S., Dr. Uno Von Troll, and several other literary and ingenious gentlemen.
Written by Uno Von Troil, D. D. iV

(H.) Journal of a Tour in Iceland in the Summer of 1809. By William Jackson Hooker, 'r
F. R. S. and L. S., and Fellow of the Wemerian Society of Edinburgh. Second edition;
8vo. 2 vols. London. 1813

(X. ) Lettres sur rislande. Par X. Marmier. 8vo. Paris. 1837.

(P. and Z.) Reise nach Island im Sommer 1860. Mit wissenschaftlichen Anhangen. Von
William Preyer and Dr. Ferdmand Zirkel. 8vo. Leipzig. 1862.

Gottinger Studien. 1847. Erste Abtheilung. 8vo. Gottingen. Seiten 321-460. Physisch-
geographische Skizze von Island mit besonderer Riicksicht auf vulcanische Erscheiuungen.
Von W. Sartorius von Waltershausen.

62

ft

(l%aarnp.) Statistisk Udsigt over den danske Stat i Begyndelsen of Aaret 1825. Af
Frederik Thaainp, Statsraad. 8vo., with atlas. Kjobenhavn. 1825.
(Meddel.) MeddeleUerfra dot Statistiske Bureau. I-VI. Svo. Kjobenhavn. 1852-1861,

iLanie.) Denmark and the Duchies, and other books.
Berfi^haus. ) Dr. Heinrich Berghaus's Physikalischer Atlas. Yerlag von Justus Perthes
in Gotha, 1852.

(Kiepert.) Allgemeiner Hand- Atlas der ganzen Erde. Weimar. Im Yerlage des Geo-
graphischen Institutes.

(Olsen.) Carte d^Islande, en qnatre feuilles, execute sous la direction de Mr. O. H. Olsen.
Publi^e par la Soci6t6 Litt^raire d*Islande. 1844.

(Smith. ) The Discovery of America bj the Northmen. By John Foulmin Smith. Second
edition. London. 1842.

(Colton.) Atlas of the World. New York. 1855.

(Lipp.) A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer or Geographical Dictionary of the World.
Svo. Philadelphia. J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1866.

(Herschel.) Physical Geography. By Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart., &c. Second
edition. Edinburgh. 1862.

(Scoreaby. ) An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a history and description of the
northern whale fishery. By W. Scoresby, jr., F. R. S. E. In two volumes. Edinburgh.
1820.

(Crantz.) The History of Greenland, containing a description of the country and its
inhabitants, andparticularly a relation of the mission carried on for above these thirty years
by the Unitas Fratrum at New Hermhuth and Lichtenfels, in that country. By David
Crantz. Translated from the High Dutch. In two volumes ; 8vo. London. 1767.

(King.) Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean. By Richard King.
Two volumes. Loudon. 1836.

(Back.) Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition. By Captain Back, R. N. Philadelphia.
1836.

(M'D.) The Eventful Yovage of H. M. Discovery Ship Resolute to the Arctic Regions,
in search of Sir #ohn Franklin, &c. By George F. M'Dougall, master. 8vo. London.
1857.
. (Richardson.) The Polar Regions. By Sir John Richardson, LL. D. Edinburgh. 1861.

(Osborne. ) The Polar Regions. By Lieutenant Sherard Osborne. New York. 1854.

(Kane.) Arctic Explorations, in the years ]853-'54-'55. By Elisha Kent Kane, M. D.,
U.S.N. Two volumes ; 8vo. Philadelphia. 1856.

(Hayes, A. B. J.) An Arctic Boat Journey in the Autumn of 1854. By Isaac I. Hayes,
surgeon to the second Grinnell expedition. Second edition ; 12mo. Boston. I860.

(Hayes, Sm. R.) Lecture on Arctic Explorations. By Dr. I. I. Hayes. Smithsonian
Report for 1861, page 149.

(Hayes, O. P. S. ) The Open Polar Sea, a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the
north pole, in the schooner United States. By Dr. I. I. Hayes. 8vo. New York. 1867.

(Osborne.) On the Exploration of the North Polar Region. By Captain Sherasd Osborne,
R. N., C. B., in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Loudon. Yolume xxxvi,
page 279.

(Petermann.) Notes on the Distribution of Animals, available as food in the Arctic
regions. By Augustus Petermann, esq , F. R. G. S., &c., in the Journal of the Royal
G^ogn^aphical Society of London. Yolume xxii, page 118.

(Mark.) On the Origin and Migrations of the Greenland Esquimaux. By Clements R.
Markham, esq., secretary R. G. S., in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. Yol-
ume XXV, page 87.

(Hickson.) On the Climate of the North Pole, and on Circumpolar Exploration. By W;
E. Hickson, esq., in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. Yolume xxxv, page

(Penny Magazine. ) Penny Magazine for October, 1838. Account of Greenland. Page 274.
(Edinburgh Review.) Edinburgh Review. Yolumes iii and xix, pages 334 and 416.
(Quarterly Review.) London Quarterly Review. Yolume liv, page 185. Yol. xix, page
291. Yol. vii, page 43.
^Westminster Review.) Westminster Review. Yolume Iii, page 264.
(Foreign Quarterly Review.) Foreign Quarterly Review. Yolume ix, page 41.
(North American Review.) North American Review. Yolume xxxv, page 75.
Also various authorities on kryolite and aluminium mentioned in the text.

Note. — ^Professor Paijkull's " Summer in Iceland " was not received in time for use.

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68

APPENDIX C.

The following tables, excepting in part No. 3, are compiled from the minute
returns made to the Danish government, which are given in the MeddeleUer fra
det Sfatistiske Bureau, published at Copenhagen. We have been able to con-
sult vols, i-vi (years 1852-'61) of this valuable publication.

Olsen's map is followed, as elsewhere in this report, in the spelling" of Ice-
landic names. For the meaning of these names, see P. and Z., pp. 479, 480.

No. 1. — Table showing the population of Iceland on the \U Fehr uar j/, ISoO,
and on the 1st October, 1855. (Meddel., vol. iv, p. 3.)

Districtg.

SOUTHERN AHT.
Reykjavik

Qollbriaga and Kj68ar S^sle,^ exclusive of Reykjavik.

The same, iuclading Reykjavik

Borgarfjardhar S^sla

Amess 8^Bla

R&Qg&rvalla Sygla

Anstr and Veatr SkaptafelLs S;^8le^

Vestmannaeyjar* S^sla

Total, (southern amt)

WESTERN AMT.

M^ra and Hnappadals Syale^

SnsBfellBness S^Mla

Dala Syria

Bardhastrandar Syria

fsai^ai^&i^ S^Bla

Stranda S^sla

Total, (weBtem amt)

NORTHERN AND EASTERN AMTS.

Number of famllieg.

1850.

219

783

1,002
329
723

700

481

91

3, 326

1855.

Population.

1850.

1855.

250
853

1,103
355
755
717
529
98

1,149
4.519

5,668
2,097
5, 018
4,766
3,340
399

3, 557 21. 288

379
512
267
336

508
179

2,181

Htknavatns S^alft

SkagaQardhar S^sla

EyjaQardhar S^Bla

Mordhr and Sudhr Thingeyjar S^rie*

Nordhr Mtlla S^sla

Sudhr Mflla S^ria

Total, (northern and eastern amts) .

556
626
625
640
405
391

3, 243

Total for all Iceland

8,750

383
526
277
347
545
190

2,268

639
622
638
684
473
416

3,472

2,410
2,684
1,923
2, 518
4,204
1,373

15, 112

4.117
4,033
3,965
4,453
3,201
2,988

22, 757

a.S'O

1,354
4,853

17.84
7.39

6,207
2,312
5,382
4,917
3,545
447

9.51
10.25
7.25
3.17
6.14
12.03

22,810

7.15

2,569
2,825
2,104
2,703
4,589
1,572

6.60
5.25
9.41
7.35
9.16
14.49

16, 362 8.27

4,637
4,258
4,289
5,108
3,754
3,385

25,431

9,297

59, 157 64, 603

12.63
5.58
•8.17
*14.71
17.28
13.29

11.75

9.21

^ Separated on Olsen's map. * Apparently*combined with R&ng&rvalla Sf sla on Olsen's map.

» Sub-divided into north and west by P. and Z., p. 480 ; Mck., p. 281.

No. 2. — Distribution of the population of Iceland according to ages in 1855,

(Meddel., vol. iv, p. 7.)

Ages.

Per cent.

Ages.

Per cent.

Under 20 years

42. 315

19. 485

11. 886

9.135

Between 50 and 60 veara

9 303

Between 20 and 30 years

Between 60 and 70 vearti . ....

5 413

Between 30 and 40 years

Over 70 vears

2.463

Between 40 and 50 years

No. 3.-

-Population of Iceland in several different years.

Year.

Number.

Authorities.

1

Year.

Number.

Authorities.

1703

50,444
46,201
47,287
38,142
47, 207
46,349
48,063
56, 035

1 S 8
1 S 8

s s

3
8 4
8 5

8 8
1

1840

57,094
53,000
58,558
59. 157
64,603
66,929
67,847

I

1769

1842 .

3

1783

1845

I

1786

1850 .

1 6

1801

1855

6

1806

1857

»

1808

1858

S

1835

1 Meddel.. vol. ii, p. 70.
* P. and Z., p. 483.

»Mck., p. 281.

* mven 47,240 by P. and Z., p. 483.

6 Assigned to 1804 by Mck., p. 281.
' Meddel., vol. iv, p. 3.

69

No. 4. — Table showing the means of support of the population of Iceland on the

Ist October, 1855. (Meddel., vol. iv, pp. 52-C3.)

OCCUPATIONS.

Ecclesiastics and teachers
Civil oflBcials and em-
ployes

Persons who live on their

means

Men of science and letters

Persons who live by agri-
culture

Persons who live by the
sea

Mechanics

Traders and innkeepers .

Persons who work by the
day

Others who pnruue no
definite occupation

Receiving alms

Prisoners

Total.

Percentage of population

PROVIDING
SUPPORT.

SUPPORTED.

Wives and families.

Servants.

TOTAL.

1^

OS

<o

08

^^

a

-2

o

o

&M

H

ao
(1>

S

196

45

81
29

7

2

89

7,063; 618

980
199

87

86

27

4

172; 62

I
162; 123
497 710

9,5131,728

14.7

2.7

203

47

170
29

7,681

399

74

40
20

11,835

1,066 1,090

226 133

91 136

234

285

1,207

■ 2

11,241

17.4

97

67

13, 891

21.5

ao
"3

s

H !

"3

623 1,022 527

105

84
42

179 105

19,354

1, 925
219
231

168

172

22, 923

35.5

124
62

18
20

31, 189 6, 112

I
3,015 465
352, 59
367; 117

265 13

239

20

36, 814|7, 456

57.0 11.5

OB

-3

a

o

613

123

44
29

7,493

509

73

155

11

42

9,092

14.1

1,140

228

62
49

OS

"a
1^

OB

a

OS

a

1,122

224

139
69

13,60525,010

974
132
272

24

62

16,548

2,535
391
340

282

249

497
2

25.6

30,860

47.8

1,243

230

217
71

27, 465

2,520
319
390

241

337

710

-3

■4-»
O

33, 743

52.2

2,365
454

356

140

52, 475

5, 0.''^5
710
730

523

586

1,207

2

64,603

100.0

08

p«

o
o n

08

d
S

P4

3.66

0.70

0.55
0.22

81.23

7.82
1.10
1.13

0.81

0.91
1.87
0.00

100.00

No. 5. — Table showing the population of the Danish colonies of Greenland on

the 1st October, 1855. (Meddel., vol. iv, p. 155.)

Colonies.

NORTH QREENLAKD.

Godhavn

Egedesminde

Christianshaab

Jacobshavn

Rlttenbenk

Omanak

Upernavik

Total for North Greenland.

•O oo'

1

oe

CT3

s

OS 4;
0;

o

99 u

a.
p

al.

fc.

^-» '^

"^^ 1

?

C3 OS

o

U

5*-

H

18

291

309

17

856

873

14

462

476

22

336

358

11

375

386

23

672

695

23

524

547

128

3,516

3,644

Colonies.

SOUTH GREENLAND.

.Tulianehaab

Frederiksbaab

Fiskernssset

.Godthaab

Sukkertoppen

Holsteinborg

Total for South Greenland.

Total for all Greenland. .
Total December 31, 1845.

Europeans.

Natives and
half-breeds.

38
8
15
33
16
10

2,561
708
422
836
768
837

120

6,132

248

9,648

234

8,501*

o3

o

2,599
716
4.37
869
784
847

6,252
9,896
8,735

No. 6. — Table showing the means of support of the population, of Greenland

1st October, 1855. (Meddel., vol. iv, p. 174.)

Employments.

•
4)

§•
1

11

26
37

13

18

31

Natives and
half-breeds.

i

o

Employments.

1
1

§

2

B

132
49

181

Natives and
half-breeds.

•

o

The royal (Lutheran) mission-
Missionaries, catechists, Slq

Wives, children, servants, &c. . . .

133
414

144
440

In the employ of the trading com'y—
Inspectors, assisVts, mechanics, &c.
Wives, children, servants, &c

Total

142
925

1,067

274
974

Total :.

547

584

1,248

The Moravian mission-
Missionaries and catechists

31
182

44

200

Supported by hunting and fishing—
Workinar men ...

1,745
6,075

1,745
6,075

Wives, children, servants, &c

Wives, children, servants, &c

Total

Total

213

244

7,820

7,820

T otal

»249

19,647

9,896

1 Not in perfect agreement with table No. 5.

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